(L-R) Simone Asselborn-Bintz, Mayor of the municipality of Sanem; Georges Mischo, Mayor of the municipality of Esch-sur-Alzette; Nancy Braun, Director General of Esch2022; Thierry Kruchten, Head of Tourism, Mobility and Sustainable Development at Esch2022;
Credit: Kangkan Halder / Chronicle.lu
On Monday 10 October 2022, the Esch 2022- European Capital of Culture team presented the "Time Travel Belval" Esch 2022 project to members of the press at the Pavillon Source Bel-Val, a permanent structure within the Um Belval park.
The Mayor of the municipality of Sanem, Simone Asselborn-Bintz, the Mayor of the municipality of Esch-sur-Alzette, Georges Mischo, and Head of Tourism, Mobility and Sustainable Development at Esch2022, Thierry Kruchten, explained the importance of the project and the cooperation between them. The project is conceived as to not only connect the former sites of the Bel-Val spring in Sanem and the industrial landscape of the iron and steel industry of Esch-Belval via a virtual reality (VR) tour, but to share a glimpse of the heritage of these places.
Director General of the Esch2022 programme, Nancy Braun, and CEO of Urban Timetravel SA, Johannes Berdin, were also present during the presentation.
The Time Travel Belval project is an amalgamation of technology and history recreating Luxembourg’s industrial past. Experienced through VR glasses of an audio-visual headset, the areas near the then Bel-Val spring, Clair-Chêne forest and industrial buildings of the Esch-Belval site comes “alive” in a 360-degree view. Through the Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of the bus, the virtual reality recreates a 3D visualisation of that same exact location from the past. The bus route is 1.77 kilometres long.
The €200,000 project was co-financed equally by Esch2022 and by Luxembourg's Ministry of Economy. The minibus accommodates up to nineteen people and the VR tour is available in French, German and English.
Up to five tours will be available on Saturdays and Sundays at 11:30, 12:30, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00. The tour lasts about 25 minutes including the fifteen-minute VR experience. Children under the age of eight are not allowed and people suffering from epilepsy are not recommended to take the VR experience.
Tickets cost €22 per person, which includes two free vouchers for the Esch2022 exhibitions at the Möllerei and the Massenoire, and can be booked at www.sightseeing.lu. The tour starts in front of Blast Furnace A at the bus stop opposite Rockhal.
The project will be taken over by the municipalities of Sanem and Esch-sur-Alzette at the end of the Esch2022 programme in 2023
