The Cercle Municipal or Cercle Cité is a building in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

, in southern

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. It is located at the eastern end of the

Place d'Armes Place d'Armes () is a Town square, square of the Old Montreal quarter of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada anchored by Maisonneuve Monument, a monument in memory of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Paul de Chomedey, founder of Montreal. Buildings that s ...

, in the historic central

Ville Haute The Ville Haute (, ; ; ) is a Quarters of Luxembourg City, quarter in central Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is the historical district, historic center of Luxembourg City and is involved in its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. , th ...

quarter of the city.

History

On a site where there had previously been a building intended as a ''Cercle littéraire'' but which finally housed a restaurant by the name of ''Beim Gréitchen'', the city decided to construct a grand administrative building. The design competition launched in 1902 was won in 1904 by Pierre and Paul Funck, a father and son team. The administration started to move into the

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

building in 1909, but the official inauguration was in 1910. On the front, above the balcony, is a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

depicting the granting of the city charter to Luxembourg City in 1244. The building hosted the Court of Justice of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

, which was established in Luxembourg in 1952, until 1969. It was used as the venue of public hearings of the court until a more permanent venue could be found, whilst other work was conducted at the

Villa Vauban The Villa Vauban is an art museum in Luxembourg City. It exhibits 18th- and 19th-century paintings acquired from private collections. Background Built in 1873 as a private residence, the villa owes its name to a fort built on the same site by Sé ...

, in the

Municipal Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorpora ...

. Through 2020 and 2021, due to restrictions imposed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Cercle Municipal became the meeting place of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

Renovation and reopening

In 2006, comprehensive renovation and restoration work was carried out on the Cercle in order to transform it into a convention and exhibition centre. The work was completed in April 2011 providing not only enhancements to the Grande Salle and the Foyer but also to the cellar, which can now house exhibitions, and the former loft, now the fifth floor, where four rooms form a new conference centre. It took on the name Cercle-Cité after an adjacent building on the site of the former Ciné Cité was connected to the Cercle by means of a bridge over the Rue Genistre in order to expand the Cercle's facilities.Several articles in ''Ons Stad'', No. 96, April 2011
Retrieved 7 June 2011.

References

Buildings and structures in Luxembourg City Baroque Revival architecture European Coal and Steel Community Government buildings completed in 1909 Architecture in Luxembourg Convention centres in Luxembourg {{Luxembourg-struct-stub