Luxembourg's National Centre for Industrial Culture (Centre national de la culture industrielle - CNCI) has announced its upcoming events taking place from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October 2026 in Esch-Belval and at various industrial heritage sites across Luxembourg as part of the European Heritage Days.
According to the CNCI, the programme will comprise three events: a day of reflection in Esch-Belval, six guided tours across the country and an architecture workshop for young people. The programme will focus on the preservation, conversion and transmission of industrial heritage through European perspectives, field experiences and the discovery of emblematic sites.
Round Table & Exhibition: “Industrial Heritage at Risk: Challenges and Future” - Friday 16 October 2026, 14:00-18:00
This event will bring together Luxembourg and international experts around the challenges of the preservation, transformation and repurposing of industrial heritage.
Bartosz M. Walczak, architect and heritage curator, professor at Łódź University of Technology and Vice-President of TICCIH Poland; Florence Hachez-Leroy, Professor of Contemporary History and Industrial Heritage at the University of Artois and Honorary President of CILAC; Nicolas Pierrot, Chief Heritage Curator for the Île-de-France Region; and Olivier Absalon, Director of Heritage and Archaeology for the City of Nantes and Nantes Métropole, will share different approaches and experiences of safeguarding, conversion and territorial transformation in Europe.
The round table “Preserve, Transform, Repurpose” will then bring together actors involved in transformation projects in Luxembourg and Europe, including Daisy Wagner (City of Esch-sur-Alzette), Yannick Quevedo (Agora) and Sandra Huber (IKO Real Estate), around the uses, constraints, financing and governance methods of these projects.
An exhibition will also present projects, models and research devoted to the Gebléishal, which is included in Europa Nostra’s 7 Most Endangered programme. Paul Dujardin, David Castrillo and Maria Costi de Castrillo will revisit its safeguarding and the prospects for repurposing the site.
The event will conclude with Tom Becker (University of Luxembourg, LATI project) around territorial cooperation and the networking of industrial heritage conversion initiatives.
Guided Tours: “Industrial Heritage: Voices | Faces | Traces”
On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 2026, six guided tours will allow participants to discover the diversity of Luxembourg’s industrial heritage through sites linked to the steel, textile and mining industries.
From Kayl-Tétange to Stolzembourg, via Larochette, Esch-sur-Sûre, Esch-Schifflange and Rumelange, these events will highlight the sites, memories and actors involved in their preservation and transmission.
Children’s Workshop: “Small Bricks for a Large Brownfield: Reinventing Industrial Heritage” - Sunday 18 October 2026, 14:00-17:00
Organised by the CNCI in collaboration with LUCA - Luxembourg Center for Architecture, this workshop for children aged eight to twelve will offer participants the opportunity to discover Belval’s industrial heritage through architecture and construction using mini-bricks.
Participants will be invited to imagine new uses for former industrial buildings and to explore, in a creative way, the challenges of conversion, urban transformation and heritage transmission.
For further details and registration, visit: https://cnci.lu/en/actualites-en/.
