Neumunster Abbey

Neumünster in the Grund was rebuilt as a Benedictine abbey in the seventeenth century after earlier foundations were destroyed, and after the abbey was suppressed the buildings served as a prison and barracks, an orphanage and a military hospital, and from 1869 as a prison again, which they remained until 1985. They were converted from the 1990s into a cultural centre with concert halls, exhibition space, courtyards and a brasserie. The complex lies within the inscribed old quarters and fortifications.

History

After the first Benedictine abbey on the Altmünster plateau was lost in 1542, the monks began a new one, the Neumünster, in the Grund in 1606, and in 1618 a marble tomb was made for the bones of John the Blind. The abbey was wrecked in the siege of Luxembourg in 1684 and rebuilt on the same site from 1688, with an extension in 1720. After the French Directory secularised Luxembourg's abbeys in 1796 it became a prison and barracks in 1798, an orphanage from 1805 until a gunpowder explosion wrecked the building in 1807, and after 1815 a military hospital for the troops of the German Confederation, until the Treaty of London of 1867 sent the Prussian garrison away. From 1869 to 1985 it was a prison again, and after restoration from 1994 to 2004 it opened in May 2004 as a cultural centre (Wikipedia, Neimënster Abbey).

Highlights

• The abbey courtyards - the enclosed spaces at the heart of the complex.
• The prison history - the use the buildings were put to until 1985.
• The concert halls - the venues the conversion created.
• The valley setting - the complex on the Alzette beneath the cliffs.

When to go

Year round; the grounds are open and free. The programme runs through the year. Summer brings outdoor events in the courtyards.

Good to know

It is a working venue and access depends on what is on. There is limited interpretation of the building's history. The brasserie is expensive.

Nearby

The Grund surrounds it, and the Bock casemates are above.

Key facts