Grand Ducal Palace

The building’s history, marked by multiple uses and phases of construction, dates back to the early 1570s.

At that time, the former Town Hall had to be completely rebuilt following the explosion of gunpowder stored in the attic of the Franciscan convent, which in 1554 had caused a fire that destroyed the building. Its Renaissance-style façade originates from this period.

Enlarged in the eighteenth century, the Town Hall successively became the ‘Central Administration’ and then the ‘Palace of the Prefecture’ of the Forests Department, with Luxembourg as its headquarters from 1795. It later housed the government under King Grand Duke William I, Prince of Orange-Nassau, as well as various administrations, including the States provincial and, until 1859, the Chamber of Deputies.

Following the death of King Grand Duke William III in November 1890, the people of Luxembourg hoped to see the Grand Ducal family settle permanently on national territory. Yet Grand Duke Adolphe did not immediately move to Luxembourg. The former Town Hall, designed as an administrative building, did not meet the requirements of a princely court, and Walferdange Castle proved too damp and too small to accommodate all the staff maintained by the sovereign.

Adolphe and Grand Duchess Adelheid Marie primarily resided abroad, notably at Königstein Castle in the Taunus and Hohenburg Castle in Bavaria, as well as at seaside and spa resorts in Abbazia on the Adriatic and Santa Margherita in the Gulf of Genoa. Meanwhile, Adolphe acquired Berg Castle from the Regent Queen of the Netherlands, where the Hereditary Grand Duke, the future William IV, took up residence.

He commissioned the Brussels architect Gédéon Bordiau, who had previously worked on the renovation of Königstein Castle. Bordiau collaborated with the State Architect Charles Arendt (1825–1910). The works, completed in 1895, included the construction of a new wing - later called the ‘Baden Wing’ - providing the nascent dynasty with a palace worthy of its status.

This transformation also helped to anchor the dynasty in the national history still being constructed.

With the support of historian Nicolas van Werveke and artist Michel Engels, the architectural project incorporated an iconographic programme recalling the country’s past. Grand Duke Adolphe, a prince of German origin, sought to demonstrate his attachment to Luxembourg and his commitment to integration through historical symbolism engraved in stone.

This commemorative staging included inscriptions of major dates in Luxembourg’s history, along with references to heroic figures such as Mélusine, Countess Ermesinde, Counts Henry VII, and John the Blind, elevated as symbols of dynastic continuity and legitimacy in late nineteenth-century historiography. It also integrated moments of rupture, such as the dynastic change under Philip of Burgundy in the fifteenth century.

The architectural project, entrusted to Daniel Gaymard (Strasbourg) and Robert Braun (Luxembourg), focused on the façades and interiors, following a principle of ‘faithful restoration’ to recapture the splendour of Grand Duke Adolphe’s Palace. During this period, the Court was temporarily transferred to Villa Vauban, now the City of Luxembourg Art Museum.