A national sports museum for Luxembourg is scheduled to open its doors in 2028, Sports Minister Georges Mischo said on Thursday, under plans to bring to fruition a project which has been in the pipeline for decades.
Construction work will begin next spring in the former Rout Lëns industrial area in Esch, Mischo said at a press conference.
The idea of a sports museum for Luxembourg has been floating around for decades, but nothing tangible has come of it.
In an interview with the Luxemburger Wort in October 2022, when he was still mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette, Mischo said that he wanted to see the project come to the city, adding that “people have been talking about this museum since 1986.”
The site covering 2,500 square metres in the former Rout Lëns industrial area is expected to open in 2028 © Photo credit: Sportministerium
An artist’s impression of the inside of the sports museum © Photo credit: Sportministerium
In 2017, an initial plan to develop the museum ran into problems when the chosen location in the Esch suburb of Lankelz turned out to be on land which could not be built on.
Efforts were therefore made to find an alternative location, which was finally found last autumn, in the heart of the new development area in the former Rout Lëns industrial zone.
Sports Minister Georges Mischo (left) with Esch-sur-Alzette alderman André Zwally at the press conference © Photo credit: Frank Weyrich
The new museum will be built on a site covering 2,500 square metres following the conversion of the historic turbine halls, and Mischo said officials had visited similar institutions in Cologne and Nice to gather ideas on how the local museum can be set up and run.
The museum’s official name Centre d’expertise, de rencontre et d’échange sur le sport et son patrimoine indicates it will not just be an exhibition centre, but will also host events such as conference and events, while the premises will also be made available to local sports clubs said Mischo.
The final cost of the project remains unknown, said the sports minister, but he added, “We are currently at €28.6 million, so we can realistically assume that we will end up with around €30 million.”
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by John Monaghan.)