Notre-Dame Cathedral

Notre-Dame Cathedral is the only cathedral in Luxembourg. The church is a noteworthy example of late gothic architecture; however, it also has many Renaissance elements and adornments. At the end of the 18th century, the church received the miraculous image of the Maria Consolatrix Afflictorum, the patron saint of both the city and the nation.

Jesuits from Belgium, which like Luxembourg belonged to the Spanish Netherlands at the time, opened a college in Luxembourg city in 1603, where the majority of young Luxembourgers were taught until 1773. The first stone of the church was laid on 7 May 1613, under Father François Aldenard. The constructor of the building was Ulrich Job, from Lucerne. The Jesuit church was consecrated and dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in 1621 by auxiliary bishop Georg von Helfenstein. German sculptor Daniel Muller (d. 1623) from Freiberg (Saxony) contributed to the appearance of the church including the organ tribune. The decorations in alabaster, a favourite material of Dutch Renaissance sculptors, represent early Baroque angels, who play music between leaves and floral decorations.

After the Jesuits had left the city in 1773, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria gifted the church to the City of Luxembourg in 1778, and it became the new parish church.

The cathedral received the name 'Notre-Dame' in 1848 under the apostolic vicar Jean-Théodore Laurent. His successor, Nicolas Adames, had the Baroque interior refurbished from 1854 in a neo-Gothic style. When Luxembourg was elevated to a bishopric by Pope Pius IX on 27 June 1870, the Notre-Dame Churche became Notre-Dame Cathedral. Around 50 years later, the church was consecrated as the Church of Our Lady and in 1870, it was elevated by Pope Pius IX to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

At the cemetery of the cathedral is the National Monument to the Resistance and to the Deportation. The centerpiece of the monument is the famous bronze monument by the 20th century Luxembourgish sculptor Lucien Wercollier called The Political Prisoner.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Place de Clairefontaine 4, Luxemburg, Luxembourg

Details

Founded: 1613
Category: Religious sites in Luxembourg