Luxembourg's National Sites and Monuments Service (Service des Sites et Monuments Nationaux, SSMN) has classified a total of 1,415 buildings as national monuments and an additional 1,511 buildings as of national importance as of 1 September 2021.

The SSMN operates under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and its main mission is to study and help with the conservation, protection and enhancement of national architectural heritage. The SSMN works together with municipalities under their general development plans (PAGs) to identify and protect buildings of interest.

Such buildings and their surrounding lands can benefit from legal protection; there are two types of State protection:

1) Buildings classified as national monuments

Under the amended law of 18 July 1983 on the conservation and protection of national sites and monuments, buildings, "bare or built", whose conservation presents from an archaeological, historical, artistic, aesthetic, scientific, technical or industrial point of view, a public interest, are classified as national monuments (in whole or in part) by the government.

The effects of such classification are as follows:

  • The classification obliges the owner to request an authorisation from the Minister of Culture to have work carried out on the building.
  • When planning this work, the owner can call on the SSMN, which advises the owner and, where applicable, their architect on the upcoming project free-of-charge.
  • The owner of a classified building can benefit from a subsidy of up to 50% of the costs incurred for restoration work under the Grand-Ducal regulation of 19 December 2014.

2) Buildings listed in the supplementary inventory

Under the amended law of 18 July 1983, without justifying a request for immediate classification, is however of sufficient interest to make its preservation desirable, are entered on a list called the "supplementary inventory".

The effects of such registration are as follows:

  • The registration of a building in the additional inventory entails the owner not to make any modification to the building or part of the listed building without having, thirty days previously, informed in writing the Minister of his/her intention and indicates the work (s)he proposes to carry out. The Minister shall notify his/her response within thirty days from the date of filing of the request. (S)he can inform the owner of his/her intention to initiate the classification procedure which must then take place within three months of the filing of the request; after this period, the request is deemed to be approved.
  • When planning this work, the owner can call on the SSMN, which advises the owner and, where applicable, their architect on the upcoming project free-of-charge.
  • The owner of a registered building can benefit from a subsidy of up to 50% of the costs incurred for restoration work under the Grand-Ducal regulation of 19 December 2014.

The list of buildings is not exhaustive and is supplemented and updated on an ad-hoc basis.

Further information on such classified buildings and related restoration projects can be requested from the SSMN https://ssmn.public.lu or the Ministry of Culture.