Duchy Affairs Flow Calmly in Luxembourg

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6764, 23 January 1932, Page 9

Duchy Affairs Flow Calmly in Luxembourg

HAPPY FOLK WORK FIELDS. LUXEMBOURG. Undisturbed, by political and economic turmoils in Europe, happy and contented in their daily work, tho inhabitants of the lilliputian Grand Duchy of Luxembourg have not only succeeded in maintaining their political independence, but have achieved a considerable degree of proosperity. Unlike other miniature States, Luxembourg with its 250,000 inhabitants is not tucked away iu some inaccessible spot of Europe, but finds itself in tho very middle of continental trade roads, squeezed in as it is between France, Belgium and Germany. Founded in 963, tho Duchy of Luxembourg has weathered many storms and changed hands more than once in the course of its history. During the first period of its cxistenco Luxembourg was paTt of tho Holy Roman Empire. The remains of an ancient Roman camp near Mondorp-les-Bains, in tho centre of which still stands tho obelisk surmounted by a Roman eagle, boar witness to those early days. A few miles away is Remich on the Moselle, where in SS2 a great Rattle was fought successfully against an army of Vikings who had sailed lip the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Here, too, is tho Roman villa discovered in 552, which Ls said to contain the largest mosaic yot unearthed.

Luxembourg, the capital, is perched on the top of one of these massive heights falling away on three sides in steep precipes to tho river is winding beneath. On every side remains of fortifications and ) ancient watch towers, once the most powerful

in Europe, but to-day covered with ivy, rise tier upon tier, built into the rocks, grim yet harmless mementos of Luxembourg's war-like past. Tho fortress, dismantled in 1576 used to be called "The Gibraltar of the North,” because many of its casemates "were cut into the rock.

Two colossal viaducts carry the railway and tho approach from tho railway to the town. Tho recently built Adolph Bridge is supported by what is believed to bo the largest stone arch in tho world, with a span of 260 feet long and 120 feet high.