Eich, the old ironworking village north of the centre

Standing in its square you’d never guess it, but before 1920 Eich was twice the size of Luxembourg City. That’s the tourist office’s claim, and it makes sense once you see what it covered, which was most of today’s northern capital. Now it’s a small district of 63.18 hectares and 2,956 residents in the Alzette valley.

A municipality that swallowed half the north

Eich was its own municipality from 1781 to 1920. It included Beggen, Weimerskirch, Dommeldange, Mühlenbach and Neudorf-Weimershof, and until 1849 Rollingergrund too. It had around 3,000 inhabitants and its own town hall. On 1 July 1920 it merged into the capital, and all those villages became districts overnight.

For me that’s one of the keys to reading the city map. Many of the northern districts aren’t suburbs at all; they’re old Eich villages.

Why is Eich tied to steel?

Because part of the country’s industrial story began here. In 1845 Auguste Metz built a blast furnace, by 1858 a third was running and output reached 16 tonnes of cast iron a day, according to the tourist office. The ARBED steel company carries the E of Eich in its name. The foundry shut in 1966 and the workshop in 1975.

That era also left social buildings behind, such as the hospice, orphanage and school of 1873. For the bigger picture, head to my page on the history of Luxembourg.

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The square and its tree

The heart of the district is the Eecherplaatz, officially Place Dargent, 2,851 m² with restaurants and cafés around it. In the middle grows a ginkgo 24 metres tall with a 3.67-metre girth, on the notable trees list since 2002. Details like that always make me stop. A tree that has watched the whole place change from ironworking village to quiet residential district.

Laval Park, shared with Weimerskirch and fitted with an outdoor gym, is close by, and above you is the Eicherfeld, where the city keeps the hives for its own honey, Stater Hunneg.

What I’d do with an hour

I’d head down to the Eecherplaatz, take a table in the shade of the ginkgo and look out for the old town hall, a reminder that this was once a municipality with real clout. Then I’d cross to Laval Park. That’s enough to get the measure of the place, and I’d spend the rest of the time on the neighbouring districts.

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Getting there and what to combine

City buses drop down into the valley from the centre in a few minutes, free of charge. I’d do Eich on the same outing as Weimerskirch and Beggen, or head uphill from here towards Mühlenbach and the Bambësch woods. It’s a calm, unhurried way to see the north of the capital.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Luxembourg and pick one that fits your day.

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