On the trail of sweat and steel

The blast furnaces have lain dormant since 1997, but visitors on the Minett Tour can still immerse themselves in this world. They can start in Esch-Belval, for example. Where the blast furnaces once spewed smoke, it is on the university that hopes of success are now pinned. Modern buildings are home to the sciences, with additional disciplines being added all the time – be it in the medical field, the humanities or computer science. But amid the university’s ivory towers, the rusty, weather-beaten blast furnaces still defy the present. They have been lovingly conserved for posterity. And they make for a very special atmosphere. 

Visitors on a guided tour can scale blast furnace A and enjoy the view of the campus. The headquarters of Esch 2022 as well will be moving in shortly, with Esch-sur-Alzette becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2022.

As too in the small village of Lasauvage, which owes its name to a “wild woman” who is said to have lived there in the old days. On the one hand she scared the living daylights out of people but on the other hand, depending on which version of the tale you hear, she is also said to have been a healer.

Later, long after the “wild woman” had died, Lasauvage was home to workers employed exclusively in the mines of the industrialist, Count Fernand de Saintignon. Houses, a school and a bustling community came into existence. The last mine closed in 1978. To this very day, a changing room with showers and hooks on the ceiling are testimony to how hundreds of workers washed themselves clean of the dust and grime after their shift.