The Luxembourg city Tourist Office (LCTO) has announced that the Bock Casemates will re-open for the 2016 tourist season next Tuesday, 1 March.
The Bock Casemates is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage attractions. These labyrinthine underground tunnels carved into the rock are unique and reflect the glorious past of the legendary fortress city. In 2015, over 120,000 visitors have set foot there, making this site the number one tourist attraction in the capital.
For four centuries, Luxembourg was under foreign domination, and the best engineers of the new masters (the Burgundians, Spanish, French, Austrians, German Confederation) transformed the city into one of the largest places in the world, earning it the nickname of "Gibraltar of the North". The defense of the citadel was ensured by three fortified belts with 24 forts and 16 others as well as this extraordinary underground network of 23 km of casemates and up to 40 metres deep. the Casemates du Bock, dug by the Austrians in 1745-1746, had an area of ??1,100 m2; they could shelter a garrison of 1,200 soldiers with their equipment and fifty guns. All these developments would make the city one of the most important strongholds in Europe. After the dismantling of the fortress in 1867, the casemates were partly destroyed and reduced to 17 km.
Access to the Bock Casemates is via the Montée de Clausen. they are open from 1 March to 6 November in 2016, between 10:00 and 17:30 daily (last admission at 17:00). Entry is €4 for adults (€3/person in group of 10), €3 per student, €2 children aged 4-12, €2 for persons with reduced mobility. Guided tours on request cost €90 per guide (2 hours) + entrance fee of the Bock Casemates. Reservations to the LCTO by tel: 4796-2709 or email: guides@lcto.lu.
