The fortified settlement
The fortified settlement
Circuit ouvert toute l'année, accès libre distance env. 1,4 km
Projection du film à l'office de tourisme Tél: (++352) 83 42 57
A settlement very likely developed as early as the Middle Ages at the foot of the hill, fortified sice late Graeco-Roman times. The following were added to the town during the 1st half of the 13th century : the Count had a hospital built, the Trinitarians constructed the oratorium and cemetry, and later the monastery and church. Only the remains of a residential tower bears witness to the residential building. The road through the town ran around 20 m to the south of the present road, parallel to the stream. In 1308 the Count officially elevated Vianden to the status of a town, in a charter of franchise in wich it was afforded the associated rights. Increasing numbers of people settled within the protection of the wall and soon outside its gates. This extension, together with the market, was integrated into the fortifications in the 14th century, when a new sections of wall was built.
From a devensive structure to a cultural monument
Whilst the residential housing inside the town wall was repeatedly ravaged by fires and subsequently rebuilt, the Medieval ring of fortifications has survived the centuries largely unaltered. The wall, wich was only upgraded slightly to take account of innovations in the art of defence, had retained scarcely any value as a fortification by the 17th century. It remained useful to the town’s habitants as a customs and tax border and as protection against unwelcome visitors and was kept in good repair. Archaeologists are currently working on what has been a cultural monument since 1938.
Gates, towers, high walls have characterised the image of the town of Vianden since the Middle Ages. This picturesque little town is one of the few former fortified towns in what is now Luxembourg, and all of this offers what constitutes a rare example of late Mediaeval fortifications. The imposing elongated oval wall, the majority of whose towers are still standing, surrounds the historical upper town, running over a length of 1150 m and situated in a lateral valley between the small Ardennes river Our and the castle itself.
For centuries the wall afforded the inhabitants of the town protection and refuge. In return it demanded untiring input in terms of sentry duty, defence and maintenance, and set structural limits an the growing community. A modern cultural tour now conducts inhabitants and visitors along age-old paths around the wall. Information boards, multimedia points, a film and a booklet recount in a vivid and entertaining way the historical link between the town and the wall – in past and present.