In my last post I said I’ll write about the Casemates of the Bock castle in Luxembourg. I was terribly lazy this week, hence the very late post. Nevertheless, here I am, in front of my laptop, hoping the weather will stay as nice as it is this morning (well, I spoke too soon, because by the time I have finished writing this post, it has already become overcast and gloomy! This is Brussels for you!).
As I said before, the Casemates du Bock is most probably the only worthwhile thing to see in Luxembourg, if you like historical fortifications.
And here begins a short history of the sight:
In around 963 Count Siegfried (of Ardennes) purchased an old castle (or supposedly Roman fort), called Lucinilburbuc (hence the name, Luxembourg), high on top of the Bock cliff in exchange for some of his properties in Feulen. And so, as the castle gradually developed, naturally the town began to develop as well. As the castle saw several generations of successive owners, such as the Bourbons (French origin and the current royal family of modern Luxembourg) and Habsburgs (Austrian origin), it gradually became more fortified and extended.
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| Picture from Wikipedia - Old Luxembourg fortifications |
The area around the castle is surrounded by natural cliffs and hills. This created a natural defense for the castle. However, as new methods of war developed, so too did the type of fortifications for the castle and town develop. Eventually three forts were erected, all connected through bridges and cuts in the cliffs’ rock. And, unfortunately, as a result, nothing remained of the original medieval castle. Now only a lone, inaccessible tower sadly looms over the river Alzette. (Standing on this side of the river, it is clear what an extreme vantage point the castle used to have.)
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| The only remaining tower of the original Bock castle |
Then in the late 16th century, under the order of Louis XIV (also known as the Sun King, married to Marie Antoinette) , a very famous military engineer, the Marquis de Vauban, succeeded in capturing the city of Luxembourg and completely destroyed and flattened the fortifications. Vauban then started making major adjustments to the forts – a 12m high wall was constructed around of the Large Bock (one of the three forts) and the Old Town.
During the Austrian occupation in Luxembourg, Austrian engineers then developed the casemates, by digging through the soft sandstone in the Bock. The casemates originated from the original castle’s cellars. (For those who don’t know, casemates are fortified gun emplacements or vaulted chambers from which guns (or canons) are fired.) The original casemates were 23km long and 40m deep. It could accommodate 50 canons and 1200 men (and in the Second World War, despite its depletion, it was used as a bomb shelter which could accommodate 35 000 people!). There were places to keep the horses, there were kitchens, slaughterhouses, bakeries and workshop facilities in the casemates. The well from which water was supplied from (it is more than 40m deep) can still be seen in today’s casemates.
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| Photo from Wikipedia: Photo of the fortifications before they were destroyed |
Unfortunately, in 1867, a treaty, called the Treaty of London, was signed because of the Luxembourg Crisis (a diplomatic dispute between France and Prussia over Luxembourg which almost lead to war). Under the terms of the treaty, the fortifications were to be demolished and never to be rebuilt, in order to keep Luxembourg’s neutrality in the treaty. The demolition took around 16 years to complete as well as 1.5 million gold francs – when most of the surface fortifications were destroyed, most of the underground casemates were left untouched.
However, in the early 90’s the only remaining casemates were restored and are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. I have to say, the restoration is really impressive, with interesting lighting features placed in various vaulted chambers and open slots in the fortified walls.
The tour begins in an archeological crypt which leads to the dungeons of Siegfried’s castle. From there you can take several routes exploring the eerie dark and narrow tunnels. At most places there are beautiful views of the valley below. At some places the tunnels get extremely dark (where you only see a light at the far end) as well as humid and damp, creating a hauntingly mysterious atmosphere where the imagination leads you to pompous dress, romances, fought battles and cruel victories.
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| So many narrow stairs! |
There is a legend at the well in the casemates, called Melusine's well. According to legend, Melusine was the wife of Siegfried. But on their marriage, Melusine asked her husband never to see her on a specific day and night of the week. However, one day he peeped through the keyhole of her room's door and saw her in the bath, with a fish's tail. As soon as Melusine noticed her husband watching her, she vanished into the Alzette river. Today, you can perhaps catch a glimpse of her in the well or in the river down below!
Have you ever been to any casemates or ruins? Do you also enjoy visiting old castles or fortifications?
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