Melusina, the mermaid behind Luxembourg's founding legend

Every old European city has a founding myth, and Luxembourg’s is a proper one, with a jealous count, a broken promise and a mermaid. Since 2015 it has had a face as well. The Melusina statue sits on the Alzette riverbank in the Grund, and while it’s a five-minute stop, it changes how you look at the rest of the walk.

The story as Luxembourg tells it

visitluxembourg and the LCTO link the mermaid to Count Siegfried’s founding of the city in 963. When she agreed to marry him, Melusina set a single condition. Every Saturday she was to be left entirely alone.

Over the years jealousy got the better of Luxembourg’s first count. He broke his word, followed her to her private rooms on the forbidden day and watched her bathe. That’s when he saw her secret, a fish’s tail from the waist down. Melusina realised she was being watched and disappeared into the depths of the Alzette. Siegfried never saw her again.

The government portal calls her a fairy, a mythical medieval figure found in several parts of Europe, and gives a different ending. Found out, she throws herself from a window onto the rocks of the Bock and vanishes in a clap of thunder. I’d walk up to the rock with both versions in mind. Either way it’s legend, and that’s how it should be told. For the documented part, Siegfried and the castle of 963, see my history of Luxembourg.

A statue straight off a printer

What makes the sculpture unusual is how it was made. Luxembourg artist Serge Ecker produced it with 3D printing, and it was placed on the bank of the Grund in 2015, beside the very river that swallowed the mermaid. I like the idea. A 10th-century legend told with 21st-century kit, in one of the oldest quarters of the city.

The official address is 13 rue Plaetis. In practice you’ll come across it walking along the Alzette in the Grund, near the path up to the Rham Plateau. There are no opening hours and nothing to pay.

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Is the guided walk worth booking?

It depends who you’re with. The LCTO runs a walk called Siegfried & Melusina, about 60 minutes long for up to 20 people. It starts on Place Guillaume II, takes in the cathedral, the city museum, the Corniche, the statue and St Michael’s Church, and finishes at the Bock Casemates. A private guide for a group of 1 to 20 costs from €100, and if you book less than ten working days ahead the LCTO adds €50. Bookings are handled Monday to Friday, excluding Luxembourg public holidays.

For a couple, I’d call that poor value. For a family or a group of friends splitting the cost, I’d pay it, because a legend told on the spot where it happened sticks with children far better than a plaque.

Fitting it into an afternoon

I’d slot it into the middle of an afternoon in the Grund. Come down from the upper town, find the statue by the water, carry on to Neumünster Abbey and, if your legs are up to it, climb to the Rham or head back up towards the Bock to finish the story where it started.

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

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