Esch2022 European Capital of Culture goes industrial

Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture handed the keys to two re-vamped ex-industrial sites to the organisers

On 9 February, Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister, François Bausch and the Minister of Culture, Sam Tanson visited the buildings of the Möllerei and the Massenoire. The two buildings were previously part of Esch’s industrial infrastructure and will now serve as centrepieces for ‘Esch2022, European Capital of Culture’.

Bausch and Tanson handed over the keys to the buildings in a symbolic gesture to the organisers, signalling the transition of the spaces into cultural centres.

The team at Esch2022 is getting ready to kick off this year’s European Capital of Culture celebrations on 26 February. The event mainly focuses on bridging gaps between spaces and times, thus it includes a lot of defunct industrial spaces, that have been converted to galleries and concert halls, in a meta-exploration of the relationship between people and places.

The industrial past, shifting into culture

Esch-sur-Alzette was a major industrial centre in Luxembourg throughout the 20^th century.  The Möllerei was built in 1910 and was used to store ore and coke until it closed down in 1997 when the last blast furnace in the area stopped working.

It was listed as a national monument in the year 2000 and conservation efforts started in 2005. Furthermore, it holds the university library Maison du livre, also known as the Luxembourg Learning Centre − opened in September 2018.

In 2022, the Möllerei will hold the main event of ‘Esch2022’, called ‘Digital Spaces’, focusing on exhibitions and light experiments.

The Massenoire, on the other hand, was commissioned in 1965 and once housed the manufacturing equipment that serviced the blast furnaces. Very little has been done to change the building’s interior, which will function as an adaptable, multipurpose exhibition and information spot.