The Saint-Esprit Plateau, Vauban's citadel above the Grund

Most people cross the Saint-Esprit Plateau without realising they’ve arrived anywhere. It’s the flat bit you walk over between the Grund lift and the Corniche. Give it an hour instead. On this spur at the southern end of the upper town you’ll find a buried medieval convent, Vauban’s citadel, the country’s law courts and Luxembourg’s main Second World War memorial, all within a few hundred metres.

A convent turned into a fortress

The name comes from a Holy Ghost convent founded here in 1234. The LCTO says Countess Ermesinde set it up for Poor Clares, who stayed until 1690. That year Louis XIV had the nuns thrown out and the buildings handed to the army.

By then the plateau was already part of the defences. The third ring of walls in the 14th century had tied it to the protected town, and the Spanish spotted its strategic value during their first period in charge. What you walk on today, though, is Vauban’s work. In 1685 to 1687 the French engineer enlarged the citadel and turned its walls into bastions. French, Prussian and German soldiers were all quartered here in later centuries.

A detail that shows how much this spot mattered. When the Passerelle viaduct was built in the mid-19th century, it was given a deliberate curve to protect it from the guns on the Saint-Esprit.

What lies under the law courts

The part hardly anyone sees is underground. In 1996, surveys ahead of the new Cité judiciaire found significant medieval remains, and digs from 2001 to 2003 uncovered walls, painted plaster, tiled floors and nearly 300 burials under the choir and cloister walks. While the courts went up between 2003 and 2008, the remains were protected under layers of sand and rubble.

In 2023 the national heritage and archaeology institutes started removing 3,000 m³ of backfill to expose them again. The finds include 19th-century military odds and ends, buttons, buckles, coins and pipes, left by the garrisons.

Seeing it takes a guide. The LCTO occasionally includes the crypt in its regular guided tours and asks you to check the description mentions it; it will also add it to a private tour on request by email. The entrance is a red door by the Rousegaart op de Rondellen.

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Cannon Hill and its flame

The bit I’d never skip is the National Monument of Solidarity. It stands on the hill locals call Kanounenhiwwel, Cannon Hill, and it’s where the country remembers all the victims of the war. It opened on 10 October 1971, exactly thirty years after the so-called referendum of 1941, when Luxembourgers made it plain they wanted to remain an independent country rather than be annexed by Nazi Germany.

It’s plain and needs no explanation. The paved inner courtyard stands for prisons, concentration camps and barracks, an ordinary uncut stone represents the victims and an eternal flame burns in front. Inside is the inscription «D’Hémecht hiren Doudegen 1940-1945», the homeland to its dead. The occupation and the liberation are told at length in Luxembourg in the Second World War.

Getting up here and moving on

Come from below if you can. A public lift runs up from the Grund and drops you by the Cité judiciaire, free like all city transport, which is one less thing to budget for on a city break. From the top, the Chemin de la Corniche heads off towards the Bock and ends at the lower part of the citadel, the rondelles, so the Saint-Esprit is the obvious doorway to that walk.

From the bastion edge you look across the Alzette to the Rham Plateau with its medieval towers and Vauban-era barracks. They’re two halves of the same defence, and each is best admired from the other.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxemburgo before prices climb.

Is it worth it without a tour?

Yes, crypt or no crypt. The memorial, the view and the lines of the bastions justify the stop, and none of it costs anything. A few minutes’ walk away, near the cathedral, the Place de Clairefontaine and its statue of Grand Duchess Charlotte fit neatly into the same stroll.

One last thing. The Schueberfouer, the big August funfair founded by John the Blind in 1340, was first held right here on the Saint-Esprit before moving to Limpertsberg and then the Glacis. If your dates line up, the Schueberfouer page has the 2027 dates.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Saint-Esprit Plateau and choose by the reviews.

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.