The casemates are a fascinating series of tunnels running for several kilometres beneath the old town district of Luxembourg City, even extending as far as the Kirchberg plateau. Visitors can explore these tunnels at their own pace, as the Bock Casemates are open to tourists with relatively few restrictions. However, more mysterious are the Pétrusse Casemates and other hidden tunnels of the capital, which can only be visited with a city guide or, for the latter, with the Friends of The Fortress History guided tour.

“She was waiting for him. She knew he’d be back. She loved listening to his voice: so excited, so exciting, so wild and wilful and reliably unreliable.”

The person who waits is Melu­sina, a mermaid and the tragic heroine of the story surroun­ding the origins of Luxembourg City. Today visitors can see her statue seated beside the Alzette, waiting for Count Siegfried, or perhaps for our city tour guide.

According to the legend, unbe­known to Count Siegfried, Melu­sina transformed from mermaid to woman in order to marry him. They lived together and Melusina asked to be left alone one day a week. Every Saturday she locked herself in her private chamber, and Siegfried was not allowed to see her. The legend explains that this is the day when she transfor­med back into a mermaid. One day the Count peeked through the keyhole, saw Melusina’s fish tail and uttered a scream. Some versions of the legend suggest that she jumped from a rocky ledge into the Alzette river, never to be seen again. Other endings describe Melusina being swallowed by a rock.

Guide Jean knows the Bock and the Pétrusse casemates like the back of his hand. He doesn’t wear his hat for fashion reasons. If the ceiling knocks off his hat, like here in the golden rain tunnel under the Golden Lady, it reminds the young man to keep his head down.

“This is the well where Melusina is said to live today. It stands on the spot where she was swal­lowed by the rock. Here she weaves a shroud for the city of Luxembourg. She protects the city, but can also bring it to ruin if she is not redeemed,” the young man with the long hair, glasses and hat says in a dramatic voice. He is standing next to the 47-metre-deep well in the middle of the Bock Casemates. Our guide explains that the casemates, an underground defence system that tunnels under the entire old town and extends as far as the Kirch­berg plateau, is one of his favouri­te places to work. More than just a guide, he is also an actor and wrote and published an English-language collection of short sto­ries: “The Pleasure of Drowning”, under his pen name Jean Bürlesk. In this collection, “Foundations” offers a reworking of the Melusina tale.

“I love all languages!” says the Lu­xembourg native, whose real name is Jean Beurlet. He knows the Bock and also the Pétrusse casema­tes like the back of his hand. A historian by training, he has been visiting the underground tunnel systems since he was a schoolboy.

He is now an official guide of the Luxembourg City Tourist Office. A lot has changed in the casema­tes since Jean Beurlet first guided people along its tunnels. Both the Bock and Pétrusse casemates un­derwent renovations during which they were closed to the public. Today both are open to the general public, who can visit the Bock Casemates on their own, or the Pétrusse Casemates accompanied by a guide.

It is almost impossible to share everything there is to know about the casemates within the space of a 45-minute guided tour. The ent­ire political history of the country, with all its trials, tribulations and conquests, is deeply connected with these tunnels. The French fortress builder Vauban, for exam­ple, who successfully attacked and conquered Luxembourg in 1684, perfected and expanded the fortifications, transforming them into an ultra-modern fortress.

Traces of his influence can be found everywhere in the buil­dings and structure of the old town. Today, the old town and the fortress are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. More than that, the entire modern city is cons­tructed in large part on the old fortress walls!

A model at the entrance to the Bock casemates shows the network of tunnels around the military defence system. Visitors can follow the tunnels under­ground, through corridors, over stairs, passing large openings in the rock, windows which, before the destruction of the fortress in 1867, were gaps barely visible from the outside. Today, these balconies, which can be seen from both sides of the rock, help shape the image of the city.

“You have to imagine how damp, cold and stuffy it was in here. No hygiene, little oxygen, gunpow­der vapour when shots were fired. No one died here from an enemy bullet, but perhaps several died from disease,” says Guide Jean, bringing the past vividly to life. In theory, there was room for 1,200 soldiers and 50 cannons in the Bock Casemates. And at one time people really did live there.

“At the age of 82, Austrian com­mander Field Marshall von Bender was stationed here with his troops over the winter months of 1794-95, to defend the fortress against the French,” Jean explains. When the food supply situation became critical, some of the casemates’ residents had to eat their own horses! Fortunately, after eight months, the Austrian government allowed them to leave.

In the past, people probably felt very cramped in the casemates, but that was a long time ago. During the dismantling of the fortress, the windows were enlar­ged, so it was no longer possible to shoot, either with cannons or rifles. Nevertheless, during the two world wars the rooms were used as protective bunkers. Not only that, but in the 20th centu­ry, the Kasemattentheater, today located in Bonnevoie, performed in the “Tun Deutsch” gallery.

“It used to be a lot darker in the Pétrusse Casemates, too,” Jean Beurlet recalls as, after a short stroll through town, he leads us into a new set of tunnels.

• “Rocks come to life”: explore the Pétrusse Casemates like never before. Storytelling accompanies visitors every step of the way.
• “A rock with a view”: Walking through the casemates of the Bock rock, visitors are treated to incredible views of the city, show­ing the contrast of old and new.
• Visitors can explore the tun­nels’ secret entrances by booking a guided tour from the Friends of the Fortress History (Frënn vun der Festungsgeschicht). For groups, advance reservation is re­quired. Participants in these tours will have a unique experience of the casemates as the guides bring the history of the tunnels to life.