Vol. 5, No. 2 - September 2001Lux of Diekirch and was unveiled on October 29, 1972. Castellum-7-...
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Castellum -1- Vol. 5, No. 2 Castellum 3304 Plateau Drive Belmont, CA 94002 U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.luxcentral.com/stamps/LCC/ Gary B. Little, President ([email protected]) Edward H. Jarvis, Secretary-Treasurer ([email protected]) Vol. 5, No. 2 (whole #18) © 2001 Luxembourg Collectors Club and contributors September 2001 President’s Message by Gary Little The march towards the euro has turned into a sprint. Although euro banknotes and coins will not appear until January 1, 2002, P&TLuxembourg has decided to begin publishing the prices of its postal services exclusively in euros starting on October 1. On the same day, thirteen new stamps will appear denominated only in euros; until the end of the year they will presumably be sold in francs using the fixed conversion rate of 40.3399 Luxembourg francs per euro. These stamps will not only prepare the public for the monumental conversion day, they will not be demonetized anytime soon. Stamps denominated only in francs cannot be used for postage after June 30, 2002. Three “euro-only” stamps to be issued on October 1 are shown at the left. The first promotes biological research; the second is from a set of six showing the euro coins that will begin circulating next year; and the third is one of four new Grand Duke Henri definitives. More Luxembourg Royal Signatures by Gary Little As a follow up to the article on the handwriting of the Luxembourg royals in the last issue of Castellum (June 2001), I now have two more very interesting items to share with you. The first is a remarkable presentation page featuring an autographed photograph of Grand Duchess Charlotte dating from the 1930s. (Notice that the underline of the signature spills off the photo, nicely tying it to the page itself.) The page also includes eight mint stamps of the Grand Duchy that were in use at the time — seven pictorials and one Charlotte definitive. In the lower right corner are the seal of the Luxembourg consulate in Washington, D.C. and the signature of the Consul at the time (whose name I can’t make out). Wow! This page comes from a famous collection of signatures of monarchs formed by a member of the Collectors Club of New York who left it to the CCNY when he died. The collection returned to private hands in the late 1980s when individual pages were made available to anyone who contributed $200 to the CCNY building fund. I subsequently acquired it a couple of years ago.
Transcript of Vol. 5, No. 2 - September 2001Lux of Diekirch and was unveiled on October 29, 1972. Castellum-7-...
Castellum -1- Vol. 5, No. 2
Castellum3304 Plateau Drive
Belmont, CA 94002U.S.A.
E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.luxcentral.com/stamps/LCC/
Gary B. Little, President ([email protected])Edward H. Jarvis, Secretary-Treasurer ([email protected])
Vol. 5, No. 2 (whole #18) © 2001 Luxembourg Collectors Club and contributors September 2001
President’s Messageby Gary LittleThe march towards the euro has turned into a sprint. Although euro banknotes and coins will notappear until January 1, 2002, P&TLuxembourg has decided to begin publishing the prices of itspostal services exclusively in euros starting on October 1. On the same day, thirteen new stampswill appear denominated only in euros; until the end of the year they will presumably be sold infrancs using the fixed conversion rate of 40.3399 Luxembourg francs per euro. These stamps willnot only prepare the public for the monumental conversion day, they will not be demonetizedanytime soon. Stamps denominated only in francs cannot be used for postage after June 30, 2002.
Three “euro-only” stamps to be issuedon October 1 are shown at the left. Thefirst promotes biological research; thesecond is from a set of six showing theeuro coins that will begin circulatingnext year; and the third is one of fournew Grand Duke Henri definitives.
More Luxembourg Royal Signaturesby Gary LittleAs a follow up to the article on the handwriting of the Luxembourg royals in the last issue ofCastellum (June 2001), I now have two more very interesting items to share with you.
The first is a remarkable presentation page featuring an autographed photograph of GrandDuchess Charlotte dating from the 1930s. (Notice that the underline of the signature spills off thephoto, nicely tying it to the page itself.) The page also includes eight mint stamps of the GrandDuchy that were in use at the time — seven pictorials and one Charlotte definitive. In the lowerright corner are the seal of the Luxembourg consulate in Washington, D.C. and the signature ofthe Consul at the time (whose name I can’t make out). Wow!
This page comes from a famous collection of signatures of monarchs formed by a member of theCollectors Club of New York who left it to the CCNY when he died. The collection returned toprivate hands in the late 1980s when individual pages were made available to anyone whocontributed $200 to the CCNY building fund. I subsequently acquired it a couple of years ago.
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Grand Duchess Charlotte’s signature on a presentation page from the 1930s.
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The second autograph is that of Charlotte’s husband of over 50 years, Prince Félix. Born in 1893 inAustria, Félix was a member of the illustrious Bourbon-Parma family rooted in Italy. He died onApril 8, 1970 in Fischbach.
Charlotte and Félix were married on November 6, 1919, just eight months after Charlotte hadbecome Grand Duchess when her sister, Marie-Adélaïde, abdicated on January 15, 1919. Togetherthey had six children: Jean (who was Grand Duke from 1964-2000), Charles, Marie-Gabrielle, Alix,Elisabeth, and Marie-Adélaïde.
The signature shown here is written across the front of a registered first day cover for Scott B98-B103, the set of six semi-postal stamps issued on December 1, 1939 to commemorate the 20th
anniversary of Charlotte’s accession and marriage. Two of the stamps in the set feature the profileof Félix.
The only other stamps of Luxembourg on which Félix has appeared are the five stamps issued in1927 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the introduction of postage stamps in the GrandDuchy (Scott B20-4).
This signature of “Félix Prince of Luxembourg” appears on this 1939 first day cover.
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A Philatelic Tour Through the Municipal Park of Luxembourg, Part 1by Gary LittleThe beautiful 30-hectare Municipal Park of Luxembourg City bends around the central core of oldLuxembourg from the Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge to the Adolphe Bridge. Its shield-likeshape serves as a reminder that, prior to the dismantlement of the Luxembourg fortress orderedby the Treaty of London in 1867, this land was occupied by an impressive collection of defensivebastions, redoubts, and forts designed to guard against attack on the weak side of the fortress. Thetransformation into a pleasant park with abundant trees began in 1872 and took 15 years tocomplete. The park was designed by Parisian country planner Edouard André who also designedthe gardens of Monte Carlo in Monaco.
Robert Schuman Monument(1966 stamp).
Robert Schuman (2000 stamp).
On this tour you will first visit someinteresting landmarks located on the streetsaround the outer fringe of the Municipal Park,then explore inside the park itself. The startingpoint is at the foot of the Grand DuchessCharlotte bridge in front of the RobertSchuman Monument.
The primary elements of the Robert SchumanMonument are a group of three tall steelbeams cast by the Differdange Steelworks andan engraved block of stone.
Robert Schuman was born on June 29, 1886 inLuxembourg and became an influentialEuropean statesman. His declaration of May 9,1950 resulted in the formation of the EuropeanCoal and Steel Community, the first steptowards a unified Europe. A brief extract fromthe Schuman Declaration is engraved on thestone block.
The Schuman Monument was designed byRobert Lentz, a Luxembourg architect, andwas unveiled on October 24, 1966. It was builtin response to a joint initiative of theLuxembourg Council of the EuropeanMovement, the Grand-Ducal Government, theCity of Luxembourg, and the High Authorityof the European Coal and Steel Community.
Across the street from the Robert SchumanMonument is the Municipal Theater. Itopened on April 15, 1964 and was built tocommemorate the 1,000th anniversary of thefounding of the City of Luxembourg. Parisarchitect Alain Bourbonnais, the winner of aninternational competition, designed it. Thebeautiful facade of the theater is made up of asymmetric arrangement of trapezoids andrhombuses, some decorated with pieces ofgray slate, others with small pebbles.
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Municipal Theater (1963 stamp).
Pescatore Foundation retirement home(1992 stamp).
General George S. Patton, Jr.(1947 stamp).
There are two halls in the theater. The first isthe main auditorium, which has 941 seats. Theother is a smaller studio with simultaneoustranslation facilities, suitable for meetings andcongresses of up to 446 people. The foyer ofthe Municipal Theater is also often used forformal receptions and cocktail parties.
Directly across from the Municipal Theater, onthe south side of the Boulevard RobertSchuman, is the retirement home of the J.-P.Pescatore Foundation. The best view of theoldest part of the building is from the sidefacing the city center; you can access it fromalong Avenue de la Porte-Neuve and AvenuePescatore. The main entrance features a tallspire, a bust of Pescatore above the portal, andstained glass windows.
This building was funded by a grant from theestate of Jean-Pierre Pescatore (1793-1855)who was born in Luxembourg but made hisfortune in France in banking and the tobaccotrade.
(Pescatore also bequeathed his extensive artcollection to Luxembourg City and it is ondisplay in the Villa Vauban in the MunicipalPark.)
The neo-gothic retirement home opened onMay 16, 1892 and has 160 rooms on fourfloors. Four additional wings were addedbetween 1954 and 1982.
During the Battle of the Bulge (the ArdennesOffensive) in the winter of 1944-1945, thePescatore Foundation building served as themilitary headquarters for General George S.Patton, Jr., the Commander of the UnitedStates Third Army. A plaque near the front ofthe building testifies to this fact.
In the park behind the Pescatore Foundationretirement home is a small abstract monumentby Lucien Wercollier in memory of JosephKutter (1894-1941), the first modernLuxembourg painter to achieve internationalfame.
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Joseph Kutter self-portrait(1975 stamp).
Schueberfouer carnival(1990 stamp.)
Jean the Blind(1934 stamp).
Kutter is best known for his melancholyportraits and dark landscapes. He studied artin France and Germany for many years beforereturning to Luxembourg in 1924. For the restof his short lifetime he traveled extensivelyand exhibited his works throughout Europe.
The National Museum in the Fish Market areaof old Luxembourg has more than two dozenKutter paintings on display, including all ofhis most famous works.
The next stop, the vast Glacis square, is pastRond-Point Schuman on the north side ofBoulevard de la Foire. Most of the year thissquare is just a large, unremarkable parkinglot, but for two weeks, starting on the next-to-last Sunday of August, it is home to the livelySchueberfouer.
The Schueberfouer is a large carnival andmarket that was founded over 650 years agoin 1340 by Jean the Blind, Count ofLuxembourg and King of Bohemia. It began asa sheep market and for centuries it was purelya trade fair for merchants to sell their wares; inrecent years it has become a fun fair withcarnival rides and a sideshow. Each year thefair is opened by the Sheep’s March paradedepicted on a fountain on Grand-Rue (seeChapter 2).
Across from the Glacis, on Rue Adames nearthe border of the Municipal Park, is a largememorial stone to which is affixed a plaquehonoring Jean the Blind for his role infounding the Schueberfouer. The plaque depictsthe ancient seal of John the Blind that showshim atop a galloping horse. The stone wasplaced here in 1975 by L’Union des Industriels-Forains (Union of Fair Workers).
A little further along Boulevard de la Foire isAvenue de la Faïencerie. Take this street to theright and go past the Glacis to the corner ofthe Notre Dame cemetery on the right alongAllée des Résistants et des Déportés.
On this corner is a small monument to theKlëppelkrich (War of the Clubs) that is a bas-relief of a tree trunk. It is the work of EdmondLux of Diekirch and was unveiled on October29, 1972.
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Klëppelkrich Monument (in Clervaux)(1979 stamp).
Luxembourg resistance workers(1985 stamp).
The Klëppelkrich was a 1799 peasant uprising,centered in northern Luxembourg, organizedto protest the annexation of Luxembourg byRepublican France and the imposition ofconscription. The fearless and proudLuxembourgers challenged the seasonedFrench soldiers with a sorry collection ofweapons, including ancient shotguns, rustyswords, axes, pitchforks, and simple clubs.Predictably, the insurrection was quicklyquashed and thirty peasants were sentencedto death and executed on the Glacis betweenJanuary 8 and May 20, 1799.
Continue to the left along Allée des Résistantset des Déportés. A few meters from theKlëppelkrich monument is a monument with amedallion depicting the old Notre DameChapel. This chapel was destroyed by Frenchrevolutionary army in 1796, but was rebuiltnearby almost 100 years later; you will cometo its new location shortly.
A few more paces along Allée des Résistantset Déportés is a memorial to the Luxembourgunderground movement. It was placed hereon June 6, 1994, the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, by Groupement Independent desMaquisards Luxembourgeois (IndependentGroup of the Luxembourg ResistanceMovement).
During World War II, about 500Luxembourgers, motivated by the forcedconscription of young Luxembourg men intothe German army, became undergroundresistance workers in neighboring alliedcountries, particularly Belgium and France.Their goal was to attack and disrupt theenemy by launching many surreptitious raidson key targets behind enemy lines, often withonly a handful of collaborators and minimalresources. Of the 500 Luxembourgers whojoined the underground, 74 died in combat orwere executed by Nazi firing squads afterbeing captured.
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J.A. Zinnen (1998 stamp).
National Monument of Resistance andDeportation (1982 stamp).
On the next block of the Allée is a gate thatprovides access to the Notre Dame Cemeterythat opened in 1775.
Along the first row of the cemetery, parallel tothe Allée, is the impressive mausoleum ofnational composer J.A. Zinnen (1827-1898).The mausoleum, featuring a bust of Zinnenand a monument decorated with musicalnotes and instruments, was financed by anational subscription.
Leave the cemetery by the same gate youentered, then go back in through the next gatealong Allée des Résistants et des Déportés.This gate is at the southwest corner of thecemetery.
On the right is another World War IImemorial — Croix de Hinzert, the NationalMonument of Resistance and Deportation. It iscomposed of two distinct elements, thewooden Hinzert Cross and the PoliticalPrisoner statue by Luxembourg sculptorLucien Wercollier.
The Luxembourg resistance was organizedsoon after the Nazi occupation on May 10,1940. Its repression was brutal and terrible —thousands of patriots were arrested,imprisoned, deported, or thrown intoconcentration camps. More than 1,600Luxembourgers passed through the Hinzertdeportation camp and many died there.
Shortly after the war, on March 9-10, 1946, theremains of those who died in Hinzert werereturned to Luxembourg for burial in theNotre Dame cemetery. The Hinzert Cross,made from the boards of the huts of theHinzert camp, was erected at this time. ThePolitical Prisoner statue was placed near thecross on May 10, 1969.
[to be continued in the next issue of Castellum]
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