Luxembourg, although modest in size, offers a surprising diversity of breathtaking landscapes. In the heart of this multicultural country, the fortress city that is more than a thousand years old, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is testimony to a turbulent history. It's history, its architecture, its boutiques, its nocturnal life, its finances, gastronomy, wine map and valley of seven castles are all assets that make it today one of the top European destinations sought-after by tourists Today, we invite you to follow us on a guided visit of the Grand Duchy... First we will head to one of the most luxurious establishments in the city, the five-star hotel place d'armes, as a cosmopolitan city located in the heart of Europe. Luxembourg is a privileged place for all art collectors, so that's what we will then discover in the company of Hervé Lancelin, who opens the doors of his gallery to us. We'll have a sweet treat at Ilario and Simonetta Mosconi a two starred Italian restaurant, before heading to the countryside to visit the wine route so dear to another starred chef, Léa Linster. the winner of the 1989 bocuse d'or, who will share her second passion with us, wine and especially Le crément. A crément ! After that, we'll stop at the Belvalplaza, for a little shopping spree, then we'll meet one of the most reputed jewelers in this Luxembourg square. Lionel Windeshausen, who we’ll catch up with later in the evening in a trendy spot whose reputation speaks for itself, the Elch. But now grab your bags were off to the hotel place d'Armes, a five-star establishment a member of Relais et Chateaux, and ideally located, the place d'armes has a charm that cannot be found anywhere else in the Grand Duchy. The hotel place d'armes is a boutique hotel composed of 28 rooms and suites located in the heart of Luxembourg City. It's made up of several connected buildings, some dating from the 18th century, with very singular details, like gilding period chimneys or rooms with exposed beams. in the heart of the establishment there are three very notable places... The Cafe de Paris, whose wine list features the Luxembourg Moselle and some great French régions. Freshly renovated, the new restaurant rôtisserie Plëss welcomes you in a warm atmosphere. The most refined of palates will head upstairs to taste the cuisine of the chef of La Cristallerie, Michelin starred chef Fabrice Salvador. No need for a guide, however to see the cultural richness of the city. After this epicurean pause at La Cristallerie, you will have all the energy you need to discover the most beautiful monuments of Luxembourg, for example le Palais, the city residence of the Grand-Duke, or Notre Dame Cathedral, built between 1613 and 1621, the resting place for deceased members of the royal family. Wherever we are, each point of view deserves to be immortalized. Pictures that could one day who knows end up in the art gallery of Hervé Lancelin, who assiduously supports upcoming artists. It's a gallery that opened its doors in 2014 and it's a gallery that enjoys a very good reputation, because I'm especially known for being a collector for more than 30 years and so my passion is art meeting artists I spend a lot of time in artists workshops it's really my love what I like to do with the gallery is get the public to discover artists that will become somebody in art history in the near future a passionate fan of Contemporary Arts also known for starting the Luxembourg art prize contest created in 2015 the competition is opening to artists from around the world. each year close to 300 candidate files land on the desk of Hervé Lancelin, but only 12 are selected and then chosen by a jury, composed essentially of museum directors, curators, and art historians. The winner of the 2017 Luxembourg Art Prize is Jacek Jonkman, a 54 year old artist who lives in Amsterdam; the jury was unanimous - his tableau is extraordinary. It represents Donald Trump’s penthouse in Manhattan, with a very kitch representation of an apartment full of gilding, a sort of faux Versaille, and we see in the tableau that the apartment is falling to ruins, the dilapidated sofas, all ripped up, and finally we imagine the imminent fall of its owner, and more generally, the fall of the American Empire. A winner who leaves with a lovely prize and who can benefit from a network of partner galleries around the world. located between France Belgium and Germany the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with its turbulent past is a true digest of European history During the Middle Ages, its princes wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. During modern times, its fortress was a major issue in the struggle between the great powers The famous book casemates underground tunnels and galleries carved into the rocks of the city are also a top attraction in Luxembourg Facing them, below, is the splendid Neumünster Abbey. Located in the Gründ, the Abbey proudly sits in a picturesque and timeless neighbourhood, lulled by the Alzette that softly flows past. From the 16th century monastic abbey to a Nazi prison, for four centuries, the monument has had a hectic history. Transformed into a cultural centre… ..exhibitions, plays, conferences, and rhythmic concerts now call this historic place home. 200 metres from there, at rue Münster, another place well known to tourists, but especially to refined palates, is the two time Michelin starred restaurant from Illario and Simonetta Mosconi! the man who started in the dining room before trying out in the kitchen as a line chef more than 30 years ago is today one of the great European chefs self-taught Ilario Mosconi is proud of his Italian roots, a transalpine cuisine that is often misunderstood, caricatured and reduced to pasta or pizza according to the chef originally from Brescia in the north of Italy We’re the only 2 starred restaurant in Europe outside of Italy, maybe because even for Michelin it was difficult, but maybe they understood Italian cuisine, I hope at least. We bring all our products in from Italy, whether it’s Sicily, Tuscany, or Piedmont - nuts, truffles, meat, and with all those products, voila - we have a 2nd star. We of course still work with pasta yes, we make our own fresh pasta. But Italian cuisine doesn’t mean just pasta. Italian cuisine according to ilaria Mosconi is above all healthy and light cuisine a bit like the feather he chose as the emblem when things are hidden with sauces the vegetables things on top then for me it's too busy I don't like that when we have a good product we put two or three other products together but that's it here not wanting to speak badly about
the other places but we can eat here every day as for the atmosphere we continue with the theme of ilaria mosconi's cuisine sober light and delicate the fireplace burning in the small salon and a library on the upper floor plunges us into a cozy almost intimate atmosphere we didn't want to make a restaurant that was too modern or too heavy The restaurant is like being at home, calm, tranquil, with a colour that’s not too heavy, we should feel like we’re at home there is still a bit of space on the facade of this house located at 13 rue Munster in Luxembourg, Space for an eventual 3rd star for example? I'm not looking at the third star but well I'd rather say nothing if Michelin comes our goal is to first keep the second star then we'll see for the rest In terms of landscape, the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is in the image of its GDP per resident: rich! Between its city-fortress, its valley of seven castles, or the Mullerthal, often called the little Switzerland of Luxembourg, the Grand-Duchy has everything to seduce the most demanding requests! Among the most sought after locations, we find the Moselle Valley famous for its steep slopes and vineyards. Is is the cradle of great Luxembourg wines, mainly white varieties like Riesling, Auxerrois or Pinot Gris. Themed hikes like the wine route, are entirely dedicated to discovering this terroir. A land in the heart of Léa Linster, a premier starred chef and the only woman to this day to have won the coveted Bocus d’Or, in 1989. Today, Léa shares with us her second passion. My second passion I think is wine, crémant wines, their vineyards, I’m in the middle of the vineyards and I like it, it’s the Moselle Luxembourgeoise, I think that it’s the most beautiful site in Luxembourg. For a few years now, the starred chef has been bottling her own crémant. Thanks to the choice of the grape variety, the blending of the cuvée and the rest period on the lees, Léa obtains high quality products, in white or rosé. A rosé crémant is based on a Pinot Noir, and the crémant brut is a Pinot blanc and Auxerrois, and the dosage is always done Auxerrois style, I really like it because it has a certain warmth, a femininity that I like a lot. I sell this wine of course in my restaurants. I like to drink it with my friends, but you can also buy it online and even in Germany. Germany is very close, we can see it from here, and over there they also love my crémant. This wind blowing on the vines, is in fact a wind of freshness that allows Luxembourg to modernise tirelessly. Gateway to the City of Luxembourg and site of European institutions, the Kirchberg Plateau has undergone many changes in recent years. Gradually, it has become a symbol of Luxembourg, where art and banks, housing and commerce, form a group that attracts thousands of tourists every year. A little further south, the same goes for the former Belval steelworks. In 1997, when blast furnace B came to a halt, the last blast furnace still in production in Luxembourg, a surface area as large as 120 football fields was freed up. Shared between the municipalities of Esch-sur-Alzette and Sanem, it became the home of an ambitious rehabilitation program, designed to accommodate schools,housing, offices and shops. Like here, at the Belval Plaza, a shopping centre that to this day welcomes close to 7 million visitors a year. In the shopping centre you have, all the shops, a Delhaize supermarket, big stores like Saturn or H&M, and we also have a lot of restaurants, about 10 and what is unique in Luxembourg is we have a Kinepolis cinema inside it's on the second floor of the shopping center and we're next to the rock hall so we really have lots of interesting leisure activities in this Belval neighbourhood Next to the big brands, small shops manage to stand out. At the head is the brand Bubble, a sort of Ali Baba’s cavern for children and parents, unique to Luxembourg. With its electric scooters and Segways, ElectriCity has also made a name for itself, taking on an Eco theme. At the Belval Plaza, there is also a focus on youth. There are regular workshops for children organised in this Shopping Centre where people love to stroll and enjoy the large spaces. It’s a shopping centre, it’s nice, airy, very bright. There are different restaurants and coffee shops everywhere in the mall so it’s a warm and friendly atmosphere actually. When this neighbourhood will be entirely rehabilitated, in around 2025, about 20,000 people will be able to move about daily in Belval, which should significantly increase the attendance numbers at the Shopping Centre, without talking about its development. In Luxembourg City, the number of luxury shops has expanded greatly. Thanks to their strong buying power, Luxembourgers have a certain taste for lovely things. So luxury brands have clearly made a clever decision: Gucci, Louboutin, Hermès, Chanel and Cartier have taken over the most beautiful spaces in the city centre As for Lionel Windeshausen, he chose the outskirts at the City Concorde in Bertrange. Coming from a family of jewellers, his father gave him the taste for precious stones and timepieces. Windeshausen Jewellers is a family company, it is my father that began it all and I followed later, about 15 years ago. We had an opportunity to come here in 2009, we arrived with 2 or 3 important brands like Breitling and Tag Heuer and we also wanted to develop our custom creations because we’re jewellers to begin with. Even if the trend has turned towards timepieces when it comes to luxury, we want to keep our jewellery DNA, we make a lot on site, in our own workshops, and everything remains handmade. Large necklaces are finished, large rings, however, they are still around, but the design really has to be special. If we take a piece like this one, we already have a piece that has a certain volume, but it needs something special, here we find a curve, on the side of this ring because it’s going to hug the other finger. Our JOZ collection has this slightly different angle in terms of the form. When you put it on your finger, we have something that is going to sit on the hand, hug the form, and when you close your hand, you can’t feel it at all. This piece will be a part of the collection that Lionel Windeshausen and his father Jean will present this evening to a panel of 200 women during Ladies Night, a must attend event. For this occasion, we take you to the Elch restaurant, and it’s here that Lionel welcomes his most loyal clients. A place well know to Luxemburgers and border residents. Its main attractions: a magnificent summer terrace, a cosy room with a wooded atmosphere, but above all, its cuisine. The chef and his team ensure that everything is perfect, down to the very last detail. Here, everything is homemade, and our taste buds can confirm it. the Elch has turned into a wonderful haven for this evening that blends champagne, jewellery, and beautiful cars. Murat Mutlu and Lionel Windeshausen finish off the preparations of an evening that is certain to be… brilliant! Before these ladies go window shopping, the husbands can take the time to admire the supercars by Aston Martin. A few minutes later, the shopping session can begin! Contrary to others for whom the night seems far from over, it is time for us to return to the hotel after a very fun and eventful day in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.
