Musée Dräi Eechelen Exhibition Stitches Luxembourg’s Historic Past to its Present Day

On Wednesday 23 April 2025, the Musée Dräi Eechelen (3 Acorns Museum) in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, in collaboration with Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture and the National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art (Musée National d'Archéologie, d'Histoire et d'Art - MNAHA) hosted a private tour of their new exhibition “La Cité Transparent”.

The tour of the exhibition, which is part of the museum’s celebration of the European Month of Photography (EMOP), features a variety of images created by Luxembourgish director, film producer and photographer, Yann Tonnar, and was presented by Managing Director of the Musée Dräi Eechelen, François Reinert. The images on display are a digital amalgamation of 19th century lithographic prints and drawings of the historic fortress of Luxembourg and its surrounding areas, cut and combined with modern-day photographs of the same locations to show how these areas have developed over a period of nearly 200 years.

Mr Reinert began the tour by introducing Mr Tonnar and describing the process through which the exhibition was conceptualised and implemented and how it shares a chronological link to the museum’s “Luxembourger Bundeskontingent” exhibition by also being influenced by 19th century Luxembourg.

Yann Tonnar then spoke of how he originally envisioned the project several years ago after buying copies of the lithographs but, without having the required knowledge of software, such as Photoshop, or access to the original lithographs, it was not until the museum was introduced to his idea for the project that the opportunity to work with the original prints would arise. Touching on the museum’s enthusiasm and the time taken to complete the project, he said: “I am very happy that the museum was attracted to the project and that we were able to do all of this in two years”. 

In detailing the process of preparing the final images, Yann Tonnar described how the museum helped to produce high-resolution photos of the original lithographs and how he visited various sites around the city to find the original perspectives so that he could take photos whose quality would match that of the new images of the lithographs and sketches. Despite undertaking tests with a drone, there were challenges in finding and replicating certain vantage points due to vegetation obscuring the original views. Mr Tonnar noted that, on one occasion, it was necessary for the museum to request permission from local authorities to temporarily block a road during the day so that he and his assistant could access the right spot to take the necessary photos without any modern-day objects or people obscuring the view.

The results are a series of digital collages which succeed in presenting notable and recognisable parts of the old town of Luxembourg in a time-shifted fashion. Segments of each lithograph or drawing are digitally melded together with their corresponding photographic image to create a multi-dimensional sense of the passage of time. The strategic use of selected parts of each image, their precise placement, combined with the contrasting characteristics of the monochromatic lithographs and sketches placed against the colourful photographic images, presents an eerie and visually fascinating time capsule which sit comfortably with the other objects of historical significance on display in the Musée Dräi Eechelen.

The exhibition is open from Thursday 24 April 2025 until Sunday 16 November 2025. 

Entrance costs: adults: €7; groups (up to ten): €5/person; families: €10 (two adults & children); students, U26, Friends of the Museums: Free

Yann Tonnar holds an MA in Visual Culture from Middlesex University in London. After practising analogue photography, he dedicated himself to making documentaries on social and cultural themes. He is now head of his own production company, Manufactura Pictures, and presides over the Lëtzebuerger Filmakademie as well as the European Federation of Film Academies.

SM