Casemates du Bock

Welcome to the Casemates du Bock!
High up here on the rocks that provide a natural fortification, and where the fort of Luxembourg once stood, you wouldn’t expect that there is a grid of tunnels just below your feet, almost mirroring the streets up here above ground! In old and rocky tunnels the best footwear is absolutely NOT high heels, so you will be glad you listened to our footwear advice earlier.

You just have to adore the views from up here! Here from high up in the fort of Luxembourg, built on these grounds in 963, Count Siegfried, the founder of the city, and his men, had an excellent overview of the surroundings and could spot the enemies from afar. Back in those times there were no tunnels here, but merely the fortification and below ground were the dungeons of Count Siegfried. The fort was attacked a lot throughout history, but it was always rebuilt. It wasn’t until the Treaty of London was sighed in the 19th century demanding the demolition of the fort, that the fort was actually destroyed and never rebuilt. But today we are here to visit the UNESCO protected casemates, which were in fact left intact during the demolition.

Let’s go down and explore the 23 km of subterranean tunnels, dug out by the Spanish, then enhanced by the French and later the Austrians during a period starting mid 17th century an going on for about 100 years. Don’t be scared, the tunnels have been here for 350 years and even where they are as deep as 40m you can rest assured that if they held for 1200 men and 50 cannons, they would hold for you. After going down the first flight of stairs you will see an overview of the history of these ancient fortifications, so take some time to look at that before continuing down to through the dungeons to finally reach the casemates.

Did you know that not only were these tunnels a shelter during attacks on the city, but they also had facilities down here for horses, kitchens, bakeries and workshops, as well as slaughterhouses. This meant that the people of Luxembourg could survive even a really long siege down here. During World War II the tunnels were used as bomb shelters and up to 35000 people would hide here. This place has been open to the public for about ten years now, and continues attracting around 100000 visitors every year. One thing not to miss before heading out through the old castle moat is to check out the views from the balconies that used to be where the cannons where placed.

Photo Luxembourg Bock cliff by luxpim is licensed under  CC BY-SA 2.0