Mertzig and the fairy-tale Turelbaach Castle

Mertzig is a one-village commune with 2,435 residents according to STATEC and 1,110 hectares, which its website describes as prospering thanks to its quarry and a large industrial estate. For visitors, what sets it apart is one very particular place, Turelbaach Castle, which looks like nothing else in the country.

From Roman villa to its own commune

The commune’s history starts with the first settlers around 1000 BC, then the Celts and a certain Marcius, who built his Roman villa here and gave the place its name. Mertzig is first mentioned in writing in the 9th century. In the 17th century the village was deserted altogether, and in the 18th, under the Habsburgs, prosperity returned and the quarry opened. Under French rule it became its own parish but stayed within the commune of Feulen. A law of 20 November 1874 separated the two, and since 1 January 1875 Mertzig has been an independent commune.

Turelbaach, a life’s work

Pol Gilson, born in 1931 into a family of stonemasons and later Mertzig’s council secretary, bought a five-hectare marshy meadow by the Turelbaach stream in 1964, between Dellen and Mertzig and technically within Grosbous. His childhood dream was a house on an island. In 1968 he rebuilt a dam more than a century old and created a lake one to six metres deep. The first house burnt down in 1973 and he rebuilt it with Martelange slate, Mertzig sandstone and old gravestones that would otherwise have been thrown away. Masonry, joinery, stained glass, all of it by hand over 40 years, until he had a castle with a drawbridge and a little harbour.

The commune signed the purchase on 26 November 2020 with his widow, applied in 2021 for it to be listed as a national monument, and is considering a themed trail on Gilson’s work and perhaps a local museum on Mertzig stone. The castle even appeared in the Luxembourg film Superjhemp Retörns as the Grand Duke’s secret bunker.

I love the story, but take the rules seriously. The commune says no activities are allowed for now. You can walk round the site at your own risk, but not into the buildings, and no swimming, fishing or stepping onto the ice.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Diekirch on Booking.com and filter by area before price.

Two ways to get there on foot

The AP Mäerzeg circular walk, opened on 24 May 2023, is 8 km with 156 metres of climbing and leads to Turelbaach from the car park on rue de Merscheid. The Mäerzeger Themewee, about 4 km long, has a dozen stops on the mills, stonemasons and quarry, with land art and illustrations by Sosthène Weis.

Fitting it into a trip

Mertzig is one of the 27 member communes of Visit Guttland. It lies east of Groussbus-Wal and the frescoed church at Rindschleiden, and further west the Haut-Martelange slate museum explains the trade that produced the slate Gilson used. For a bed, head to Diekirch or Ettelbruck.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Diekirch on Expedia and filter by area before price.

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

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Luxembourg before you arrive rather than at the desk.

If you still need a way in, check the best ticket deals to Luxembourg from where you are.