Belval, where the last casting made way for a university

Few places in Luxembourg lay out the move from heavy industry to a knowledge economy as plainly as Belval. Where a steelworks once stood there’s now a university campus, laboratories, offices and flats, and in the middle, like witnesses, two restored blast furnaces that nobody knocked down.

From recreation ground to steelworks

Luxembourg’s official portal sums up the district’s past in a few lines. Around 1850 it was a recreation ground. In the early 20th century the first steelworks arrived, and it grew so important that in 1953 the ECSC chose it for its first symbolic casting. In the 1960s and 70s the furnaces were upgraded, and after the steel crisis they went cold in the 1990s. A final symbolic casting in 1997 closed that chapter.

Belval belongs to Esch-sur-Alzette, although the neighbouring commune of Sanem notes in its official history that part of the steel land was its own and that the university settled there too.

The Cité des Sciences

Today Belval is a mixed district where residents, researchers and office workers share the streets. The University of Luxembourg has its campus here, surrounded by scientific institutes, a modern library, a large shopping centre, Belval Plaza, restaurants and nightlife. visitluxembourg calls the whole thing the Cité des Sciences and singles out the contemporary architecture by international practices.

For me the piece that holds it all together is the Belval blast furnaces. Furnace A is open to visitors and has a platform 40 metres up from which the district reads like a map. It costs €5, is free with the LuxembourgPass and the visit starts in the Möllerei.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Alzette before prices climb.

The buildings that survived

The Möllerei was the store holding the fuel and ore that kept the furnaces fed around the clock. Silos, tracks and conveyors are all still in place, and the building opened to the public during Esch’s European Capital of Culture year in 2022. It’s open every day except Tuesday, from 10am to 7pm (4pm in winter), and entry is free.

What many visitors miss is that the university library, the Luxembourg Learning Centre, sits inside the Möllerei. The Fonds Belval describes it as a building devoted to academic research yet open to the public, and the Valentiny HVP practice kept the old store’s steel frame when it built it. visitluxembourg says the coloured glass on the façade copies the ash stains the furnaces left on the factory windows, and as soon as you walk in you see the giant old hoist built into the new interior. I’d call it the cheapest way to see a converted steelworks hall from the inside, as long as you treat it like the reading room it is.

Next door, the Massenoire is an exhibition hall on industrial heritage, named after the black paste used to plug the furnaces’ tapholes. And the Skip, a 400 m² building painted the yellow of site machinery by the Luxembourg practice Polaris Architects, takes its name from the carts that hauled ore up an inclined hoist to the top of the furnace.

With a guide, ideally as a group

For groups, the Fonds Belval runs a guided tour combining the blast furnace with the Cité des Sciences. It lasts an hour and a half on foot, takes up to 25 people and is offered in German, English, French, Dutch and Luxembourgish. The published price is €120 per guide plus €3 per adult, and booking is compulsory. For a couple it doesn’t add up, but for a group of friends or colleagues it works out cheap per head, and the guide explains how the land was transformed, something you can only guess at on your own.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Esch-sur-Alzette before prices climb.

The Rockhal

The Rockhal opened in 2005 and is the country’s main live venue. It has a main hall for 6,500 people, The Club for 1,200 standing and The Floor for 200, with the Rocklab alongside offering rehearsal and recording rooms for musicians. It only opens when there’s an event on, so I’d check the listings before fixing travel dates. It sits alongside the other theatres and concert venues in Luxembourg.

The park and everyday life

If you’d rather be outdoors, Belval park has paths, a skatepark, sports pitches and a broad lawn. visitluxembourg puts it neatly, saying you’re in the middle of town and in the countryside at the same time, and the mix of new buildings and bits of old works gives it a feel no other Luxembourg district has.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Esch-sur-Alzette and choose by the reviews.

Getting there

Belval has three railway stops, Belval-Université, Belval-Lycée and Belval-Rédange, all on the line linking the capital with Rodange. Belval-Université is the handiest for the blast furnaces. Like all public transport in the country, that train is free in second class, and a few minutes on it drops you in central Esch-sur-Alzette.

One practical note. Belvaux, next to Belval, has one of the country’s three out-of-hours medical centres, open without an appointment from 8pm to midnight on weekdays and from 8am to midnight at weekends and on public holidays. Bring your GHIC along with your travel insurance. For the rest of the south, the Minett guide pulls it all together.

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Luxembourg on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

So you do not pay over the odds, look at trains, coaches and flights to Luxembourg on Omio and pick the one that suits you.