Medieval Castle – Modern use!

This week I will post a little touristic thing, nothing deep and thought provoking ;-). I’ll just take you on a tour through a medieval castle here in Luxembourg, all in black and white.

Last weekend we took a drive through Luxembourg, on the lookout for a possible plot of land for a new home. We came through a small village called Useldange (yes, we got lots of strange, silly places around here!), with it’s medieval castle dating from the 12th century.

Sorry for the U.S. readers, you’ve nice things to visit but we’ve got older ones here in Olde Europe (just kidding)!

The castle sits smack in the middle of the village, on a rocky outcropping, over the small river Attert. It changed ownership between dynasties and families several times during the following centuries and was severely damaged in the war between France and Burgundy in the 15th century, the walls fell into disrepair and the castle’s chapel was finally destroyed in 1903.

But then a family of Luxembourgish immigrants to America (see, you are part of the story!), returned and bought the castle, consolidating the walls and building a nice mansion in the castle grounds, on the site of the ancient castle great hall.

This superb building has now become the town hall of the village and the castle is being restored by the Luxembourgish government. The castle is open for visits all year round, and it’s only one of dozens here in Luxembourg.

Great to see that historical buildings can have a new lease of life and are not only tourist attractions!

The photos for this post have been made with my trusty Olympus Trip 35 on Ilford HP5.

Thanks for stopping by!