Capital: Luxembourg
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Borders: Belgium 148 km, France 73 km, Germany 138 km
Luxembourg is a relatively small Western European country with a
landmass of 2586 sq km. At its longest point it is 82 km long, at
its widest it is 57km wide. Luxembourg is a country well endowed
with rivers and beautiful evergreen forested valleys. One such area
is the Ardennes region near the Belgian border in the north of the
country. Other borders include France and Germany. The people of
Luxembourg are a friendly, smiling race and though French and
Belgian influences are a part of everyday life, the people of
Luxembourg remain incredibly proud of their country and their
language. The monarchy has for years been an item of national pride.
The current Duke and Duchess are admired by many and are thought of
as symbols for an ideology of Luxembourg.
Count Siegfried chose the current day site of the capital Luxembourg
City to build his fortress, in the Bock area of Luxembourg City. The
foundations were laid on top of existing rock and it was a perfect,
naturally impenetrable fortress. Later, a second and also third part
of the fortifications were added on the western side of the city.
The area adjacent to the Petrusse Valley in the south of the city
was already a natural defence on its own. Luxembourg is nicknamed
'the Gibraltar of the North' as it sits on a fortified rock. The
inner city is comprised of a complete exterior wall with many forts,
all set into the rock. The foundations of the city were once
excavated in order to create 23km of tunnels and bombproof rooms,
known today as the Bock Casemates. In 1994 Luxembourg's
fortifications were made UNESCO World Heritage. Luxembourg has its
own language - Lėtzebuergesch, although French, German and English
are also widely spoken. The national unit of currency is the Euro.
Before the introduction of the Euro in 2001, Belgian Francs were a
recognized legal tender in Luxembourg and valued the same as the old
Luxembourg Franc.
Luxembourg is the smallest state member of the European Union and
has the richest per capita GNP in the world. The economy is largely
industry and service based. The main industries are banking, iron
and steel, food processing, chemicals, metal products and
engineering. The workforce is 262,300. 87,400 of this figure commute
in from Belgium, Germany and France at the start of each working
day. The transport network consists of 274 km of railways and 5166
km of highways.
The climate is temperate, with four seasons. Rainfall is on average
60mm per month, with the warmest months being June, July and August.
Though the coldest months are November, December and January,
Luxembourg usually enjoys a mild winter, with relatively little or
no snow. |
