The colonnade
The building changes shape as you move around it.
Reinhold Möller Ermell — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Geugeor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Geugeor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tristan Schmurr from Luxembourg, Luxembourg — CC BY 2.0
The Philharmonie on the Kirchberg plateau is among Luxembourg's most distinctive buildings: a white oval enclosed by 823 slender steel columns arranged in overlapping ranks, designed by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 2005. The columns are not ornament: they form a filtering colonnade that screens street noise and lets light through, and their visual density shifts as you move around them, so the building looks different from every angle. Inside, the main hall follows the classical shoebox shape that acoustics favour, seating around fifteen hundred. Its acoustics rank among the best in Europe, and it is home to the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and hosts a broad programme: classical, jazz, world music and family concerts. For a visitor this is an evening at the level of far larger capitals, with relatively accessible ticket prices. Check the programme before travelling.
The building changes shape as you move around it.
The shoebox shape that acoustics favour.
1 Place de l'Europe, 1499 Luxembourg
Mudam, the Museum of Modern ArtMudam is Luxembourg's major museum of contemporary art, opened in 2006 on the Ki3 minutes walk4.3
Fort NiedergrünewaldThe remains of a fort from Luxembourg's fortification system on the Kirchberg pl4 minutes walk4.3
Fort Thüngen and the Dräi Eechelen MuseumFort Thüngen stands on the edge of the Kirchberg plateau, and is known locally a4 minutes walk4.6
The Pétrusse CasematesThe Pétrusse Casemates are the second network of military tunnels beneath Luxemb10 minutes walk4.7
The Bock CasematesThe Bock Casemates are a network of tunnels cut inside the rock beneath the old 10 minutes walk4.5Yes, and the reason is economic rather than artistic: Luxembourg has an enormous cultural budget relative to its population, and draws international orchestras and soloists to a hall with excellent acoustics. The result is a programme comparable to cities ten times its size, at prices below Vienna or Paris. If your trip has room for one concert evening, this is it.