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L'invention d'Esch-sur-Alzette Josef Stübben et les architectes de la ville

16.06.2022 - 15.09.2022
Exhibitions

Gratuit

This exhibition is dedicated to an urban planner who took up a major challenge nearly one hundred years ago: that of inventing Esch-sur-Alzette by offsetting the growing influence of industry on the capital of the Luxembourg mining basin with a "green plan".

Designed in 1924-1925 by Josef Stübben (1845-1936), the German urban planner, the plan to extend Esch-sur-Alzette succeeded in counterbalancing the large industrial zones that included three steel mills and surrounded the city, with parks, tree-lined walkways, airy constructions and beautiful public squares, creating a city that was inspired by English garden cities. Stübben applied the grand principles – green spaces, light and air – of his monumental work in nearly one hundred extension plans, mostly for cities in Germany and Belgium, but also in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden and Luxembourg.

Stübben's plan for Esch is exhibited for the first time, along with a 3D overview of today’s city. In addition, original drawings by many Esch architects, who contributed to the beautification of the iron metropolis by designing public buildings, private dwellings and business premises, will be at the centre of the exhibition, thus offering you an original introduction to the rich architectural and urban heritage of the City of Esch-sur-Alzette.

Faced with the environmental emergency and the need to create carbon-free, therefore green, cities, the rediscovery of Josef Stübben's extension plan for the City of Esch-sur-Alzette in 1924-1925 is highly pertinent.

Artistic director: Christian Mosar

Curators: Alain Linster (LAM), Denis Scuto (C2DH)

In collaboration with the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) and the Lëtzebuerger Architektur Musée (LAM)

Places: Chapel, ground floor exhibition spaces