Ville-Haute (Upper Town), Old Town, City center
- Ville Haute, Upper Town, Nõtre-Dame, Michaelskirche, Place d’Armes, Place Guillaume II, Place de la Constitution, Gëlle Fra, Grand Rue, Hôtel de Ville, Palais Grand-Ducal, Palais de Justice, Cité judiciaire
The Old Quarter is an UNESCO site with Ville-Haute (Upper Town), that is the city center where most sights are, situated right above the Lower Town (Grund District). To reach the Upper Town, you can take a glass elevator (with glass floor!) from Pfaffenthal. On top there is an observatoin deck that hang out from the rock, also with glass floor. In the Old Town is the Cathédrale Nôtre-Dame (Cathedral of Our Lady), Luxembourg's only cathedral and most one of the most famous landmarks. It is a mixed baroque, renaissance and gothic style catholic church built between 1513 and 1938. The cathedral has three towers and is sitaued along the busy Boulevard Franklin D Roosevelt, that goes on top of the rocks right above Parc de la Pétrusse. The Casemates de la Pétrusse, underground tunnels are situated inside the rocks. Pétrusse is a small river that flows through the park. Along the boulevard you find Place de la Constitution with the golden Gëlle Fra memorial, facing the parks and an elegant baroque garden.
In Ville-Haute you also find St Michael's Church (Michaelskirche), a baroque/romanesque roman catholic church, that stands on Luxembourg's oldest religious site in the Fishmarket. The main squares of Upper Town are Place d’Armes (a square with open air restaurants, markets and the Cercle Municipial bldg) and Place Guillaume II (unfortunately closed for reconstruction during my visit), the grand square where the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is. This part of the city is very beautiful and has many nice pedestrian streets with upscale stores and restaurants, the main one is Grand-Rue. In one end is a branch of the French departmetn store chain Galeries Lafayette, in a very modern yellow glass building. Many buildings are grandiose and reminds of the architecture in large French cities. Palais Grand-Ducal (Grand Ducal Palace) is a beautiful renaissance building from 1572 that is the official residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Far beneath the Old Town there are stunning beautiful valleys with parks,High above the parks there are beautiful bridges, like La Passerelle and Pont Adolphe, that feature scenery with views over the city. In Luxembourg there are so many viewing points with breathtaking views of large parts of the city, from different angles, more about the views from Upper Town in this section.> There are also many museums, for example the castle like National Museum of History and Art and Luxembourg City Museum.
Cité judiciaire (The Judiciary City) with Palais de Justice houses a number of courthouses and legal offices. It is sitauted on the Saint-Esprit plateau, that has amazing views of the city. The building style is Moselle Baroque, to match the surrounding area, designed by Robert Krier. This juridical complex was completed in 2008. The Casino Luxembourg is a former casino that was renovated in 1995 and transformed into forum for contemporary art.
