Notre-Dame Cemetery (Luxembourg)

Notre-Dame Cemetery
Details
Established	1780
Location	Rue Nico Klopp, Limpertsberg, Luxembourg City
Country	Luxembourg
Owned by	Luxembourg City
Size	13.9916 ha (34.574 acres)

The Notre-Dame Cemetery (French: Cimetière Notre-Dame, German: Liebfrauenfriedhof) in Luxembourgish more commonly the Nikloskierfecht, or "St. Nicholas Graveyard", is located in the Limpertsberg quarter of Luxembourg City. It is the largest of the 14 cemeteries and graveyards managed by the Service Cimetières of the City of Luxembourg.

History

After the Church of St. Nicholas in the city centre was torn down, and the seat of the St. Nicholas parish was transferred to the former Jesuit church (now the Cathedral), in 1779 the parish graveyard was moved outside the city walls to the Glacis. This was the origin of the name „Nikloskierfecht“.[1] The new graveyard was on land near the Notre-Dame Chapel (German: Kapelle Unserer Lieben Frau, French: Chapelle Notre-Dame), also called the Neipuertskapell (Luxembourgish for "New Gate Chapel").[2] This explains the official name of Notre-Dame Cemetery.

The new cemetery was essentially just an extension of a graveyard which had already existed by the chapel since 1691 and where those were buried who had been condemned to death but were not criminals, such as deserters. Two gardens were added to the old graveyard, one of which belonged to the chapel, while the other was the property of the Holy Ghost monastery.[2]

Hinzert Cross

Mausoleum of the French soldiers

Monuments

There are two monuments at the Notre-Dame Cemetery:

• the National Monument of the Resistance and the Deportation, or Monument national de la résistance et de la déportation, usually simply called the "Hinzert Cross" (Luxembourgish: Hinzerter Kraitz)[3]
• the Monument to the Luxembourgish Unknown Legionary and the French Soldiers who died in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg in the Great War 1914-1918[4]

Notable interments

• Mathias Adam (1850-1936)
• Léon Berchem (1897-1961), author
• Sophie de Bette[5]
• Pierre Blanc (1872-1946), painter
• Martin Blum (1845-1924), priest and historian
• Victor Bodson (1902-1984), politician
• Melchior Bourg-Gemen (1861-1939)[6]
• Thomas Byrne[7]
• Pol Clemen (1861-1925)
• Pierre Clomes[8]
• François-Charles Emmanuel Collin (1790-1851)[9]
• Gérard Cravatte (1900-1967)
• Jules van Damme[10]
• Gaston Diderich (1884-1946), politician
• Adolphe Eberhard (1896-1941)
• Michel Engels (1851-1901), painter[11]
• Victor Engels (1892-1962), architect and painter[11]
• Eydt-Funck family grave (Jean-François Eydt, Pierre Funck and Paul Funck)
• Paul Eyschen (1841-1915), politician[12][13]
• Jean-Baptiste Fallize (1844-1933)
• Gaspard-Théodore-Ignace de la Fontaine (1787-1871)
• Léon de la Fontaine
• Jean-Baptiste Gellé (1777-1847)[14]
• Therese Glaesener-Hartmann
• Willy Goergen (1867-1942)
• Bernard Graf (1831-)[15]
• Bernard Groethuysen[16]
• Nicolas Hemmen (1855)[17]
• Ferdinand d'Huart (1857-1919)
• Michel Hülsemann (1885-1955), musician
• Antoine Jans (1868-1933), ceramics painter
• Joseph Junck (1839-1922)[18]
• Auguste Klein (1866-1945)[19]
• Alphonse Kemp (1872-1950), architect[20]
• Jean-Pierre Ker (1900-1951), painter
• Evrard Ketten (1842-1912), horticulturalist[21]
• Ernst Koch (1808-1858), poet
• William J. Kroll (1889-1873)
• Eugène Kurth (1868-1960)[22]
• Guillaume Lefèvre[23]
• Michel Lentz (1833–1893)[24]
• Jean Logeling
• Edouard Luja
• Jean-Pierre Maeysz[25]
• Nicolas Majerus
• Fernand Mertens (1872-1957), composer[26]
• Metz family grave
• Léon Moulin
• Edmond Patzké (1844-1903)[27]
• Antoine and Anne Pescatore-Feltz
• Ferdinand and Marie Joséphine Pescatore
• Charles-Auguste Praum[28]
• Léopold Reichling
• Michel Rodange
• François Roeser[29]
• Eugène Ruppert
• François Scheffer[30]
• Étienne Schmit
• Charles Schmitz (1855-1907)[31]
• Jean Schoenberg
• Nicolas Steffen Pierret (1830-1999)[32]
• Michel Stoffel
• Joseph-Germain Strock
• Gaston Thorn
• Wilhelm Voigt (the "Captain of Köpenick")[33]
• Jupp Wagner
• Batty Weber[34]
• Paul Weber[35]
• Nik Welter
• Lucien Wercollier
• Pierre Werner
• Auguste van Werveke
• Jacques Wester[36]
• Guillaume Weydert[37]
• Jean-Édouard Wolff (1851-1938)[38]
• Henri Woquier (1852–1921[39]
• Jean Worré (1816–1901)[40]
• Jean-Antoine Zinnen[41][42]
• Ernest Vander Linden
• Albert Jean-Marie Baron Keucker de Watlet

Gallery

• 
  Grave of the "Captain of Köpenick"
• 
  Grave of Paul Eyschen (1841-1915).
• 
  Building where ceremonies take place. Foreground: the grave of Lucien Wercollier.
• 
  Tree avenue to the ceremonial building.
• 
  This memorial plaque to the first Glacis chapel (1628-1796) stood at the entrance until the start of the construction works for the tramway

Footnotes

1. E. Feitler: Luxemburg, deine Heimatstadt. 2nd edition. Luxembourg 1954, p. 106.
2. F. Lascombes: Chronik der Stadt Luxemburg: 1684-1795. Luxembourg 1988, p. 383f.
3. Dondelinger 2008, pp. 41ff.
4. Dondelinger 2008, pp. 40f.
5. "Sophie De Bette". City of Luxembourg.
6. "Melchior Bourg-Gemen". City of Luxembourg.
7. "Thomas Byrne (Byrne-Baustert family plot)". City of Luxembourg.
8. "Pierre Clomes". City of Luxembourg.
9. "François-Charles Emmanuel Collin (Collin-Gindorff)". City of Luxembourg.
10. "Jules Van Damme". City of Luxembourg.
11. "Michel and Victor Engels (Engels-Greiveldinger family plot)". City of Luxembourg.
12. "Paul Eyschen". City of Luxembourg.
13. Dondelinger 2008, pp. 38ff.
14. "J.B. Gellé". City of Luxembourg.
15. "Bernard Graf-Ulveling". City of Luxembourg.
16. "Bernhard Groethuysen and Alix Guillain". City of Luxembougr.
17. "Nicolas Hemmen-Breyer". City of Luxembourg.
18. "Joseph Junck". City of Luxemmbourg.
19. "Auguste Klein-Demuth". City of Luxembourg.
20. "Alphonse Kemp (Kemp family plot)". City of Luxembourg. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
21. "Evrard Ketten". City of Luxembourg.
22. "Eugène Kurth". City of Luxembourg.
23. "Guillaume Lefèvre". City of Luxembourg (in French).
24. "Michel Lentz". City of Luxembourg.
25. "Abbé Jean-Pierre Maeysz". City of Luxembourg. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
26. "Fernand Mertens". City of Luxembourg.
27. "Edmond Patzké". City of Luxembourg.
28. "Charles-Auguste Praum". City of Luxembourg.
29. "François Roeser". City of Luxembourg.
30. "François Scheffer-Seyler". City of Luxembourg.
31. "Charles Schmitz". City of Luxembourg.
32. "Nicolas Steffen Pierret". City of Luxembourg.
33. Dondelinger 2008, pp. 39ff.
34. "Batty Weber (Weber-Brugmann family plot)". City of Luxembourg.
35. "Paul Weber". City of Luxembourg.
36. "Dr. Jacques Wester (Wester-Pretemer family mausoleum)". City of Luxembourg.
37. "Captain Guillaume Weydert". City of Luxembourg.
38. "Edouard Wolff". City of Luxembourg.
39. "Henri Woquier". City of Luxembourg.
40. "Jean Worré". City of Luxembourg.
41. "Jean-Antoine Zinnen". City of Luxembourg.
42. Dondelinger 2008, p. 35f.

References

• Dondelinger, Patrick (1 January 2008). "Le glacis de la forteresse de Luxembourg, lieu(e) de mémoire nationale". Hémecht (in French). 60 (1): 5–78.

Further reading

• Kartheiser, R. 1973. "Den Nikloskierfech". In: Die Warte. Luxembourg. - Vol. 26 (1973), No. 25 (4 October), p. [4]; No. 27 (18 October), p. [4]; No. 28 (25 October), p. [4]; No. 29 (8 November), p. [4].

External links

• "VIDEO: Nikloskierfecht: Traditioun a Geschicht vum intressanteste Stater Kierfecht" [VIDEO: St. Nicholas Graveyard: Tradition and history of the most interesting graveyard of the capital]. rtl.lu (in Luxembourgish). 1 November 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
• "Interesting graves in Notre-Dame Cemetery". City of Luxembourg. Retrieved 29 January 2024.

49.616°N 6.119°E / 49.616; 6.119