Ever since Antiquity, Luxembourg was destined to have a great industrial future thanks to its mineral deposits. However, irrigation of the land of Luxembourg meant that the country was able to become the type of industrial nation active in producing textiles, gloves, earthenware, paper and beer. Since the end of the 18th century, the manufacture of tobacco has also played a significant part in the country’s industrial production.

The industrial take-off began slowly during the 18th century thanks to the mercantilist policy of the Austrian government. The imperial and royal creations of Villeroy & Boch date back to this period and remind the world of the importance Luxembourg attaches to tableware.



Since the discovery of mineral deposits in around 1842 – oolitic iron ore – Luxembourg fast transformed itself into an industrial state and was even listed as the world’s 7th biggest producer of steel in 1927. In 1911, the A.R.B.E.D. steelworks group was created (United Steelworks of Burbach, Eich and Dudelange) which became the international ARCELOR group in 2002. In 1930, steel working in Luxembourg employed some 27,000 people in factories and mines and was the country’s top employer.

Today, nature is re-gaining its rights to this industrial wasteland. The former open-cast mines are gradually being transformed into canyons as a result of both man and erosion. The old blast furnaces of Esch-Belval, the steam railway, the museums of ancient mining, the moving monuments telling the daily lives of the miners, the workers’ communities and the rich bourgeois residences are all products of the industrial revolutions, a testament to the period when the Luxembourg economy was primarily based on the secondary sector.


While iron ore was responsible for the wealth of the ‘Red Lands’ in the south, so called due to their oolithic mineral content, slate roofs were the success story of the Ardennes region. Even today, traditional houses are still covered with schist tiles. The mining of copper and antimony in Stolzembourg and Goesdorf respectively brought prosperity to these villages which were originally based on an agricultural economy.


The quarries of Gilsdorf, Larochette and Reisdorf, in Mullerthal, the Little Switzerland region of Luxembourg, were for responsible for the wealth of this area and beyond for many years. This industry was based primarily on the magnificent sculpted freestone which can be found in houses dating from the 18th century, including the famous farms from the Empress Marie-Thérèse era. The village of Useldange has been awarded the Europa Nostra prize for the magnificent restoration of this heritage. Since the beginning of the 20th century, in Luxembourg city the ‘Hôtel des Postes’, headquarters of the National Savings Bank and Adolphe bridge have formed vibrant reminders of the beauty of this local stone which has become the symbol of the national architecture.


Industrialisation helped developed means of transport and communication. By visiting the Musée Rural et des Calèches in Peppange, the Conservatoire National de Véhicules Historique (CNVH) in Dierkirch and the Tramways and Bus Museum in Luxembourg City, one gets quite a good idea of the evolution of private and public means of transport in Luxembourg.


Nowadays, the Moselle canal – one of the first works of the peace-time and reunited Europe – links the Lorraine basin with the Rhine and has transformed the Moselle valley into a magnificent green space complete with locks and large cargo ships. Here, nature and engineering fuse to form a harmonious and picturesque whole. In the Ardennes region, the ‘Our’ Electricity Company has installed an artificial lake on a high plateau and transformed the inside of a hill into a power station – a very exciting development. This technical prowess is not devoid of the charm of culture as these unusual sites also lend their own charm to cultural events.