(Re)discover our city - Alleyway place Guillaume

Think you know our capital well? Well, let's see about that! Some of the buildings that you walk past on a regular basis have a special story behind them. Dr Robert L. Philippart is a true expert on the subject and will guide you through the city to uncover these hidden stories, making you look at some of our symbolic buildings in a new way.

The alleyway at place Guillaume II – one of the oldest in Europe.

This alleyway that has been overlooked by Brasserie Guillaume and the Kaempff-Kohler restaurant since 2000 is amongst the oldest in Europe. It even once played host to Jean-Antoine Zinnen, the composer of the national anthem, at the music school on its upper floors where he taught. This explains the commemorative plaque hanging right next to the brasserie.

Commercial alleyways are linked to the sale of finished goods, requiring very few production facilities. They reflect urban life with a clear divide between work and a leisurely stroll. This concept developed as soon as a customer could acquire a finished product at a fixed price instantaneously, whilst being able to choose it in store without having to order it first.

In Luxembourg, this commercial alleyway was part of a communal project carried out in the 19^th century, whilst the majority of other alleyways that appeared at that time were privately owned. Closely linked to the upkeep of urban spaces, commercial alleyways offer the public a clear walkway, comparable to the establishment of pavements. By connecting two public spaces with a direct walkway, in this case place Guillaume II and rue du Curé, commercial alleyways can also be associated with regulatory town planning. Moreover, by protecting passers-by from the elements, commercial alleyways serve as a way to regulate the climate and protect pedestrians from all sorts of unpleasant weather.

The idea for this alleyway was the result of a sanitation and restructuring project for place Guillaume in 1837, designed by J. E. Rémont, an architect and professor at the École Industrielle in Liège. It was part of a project that aimed to surround place Guillaume with arcades that included shops and accommodation for their managers, as well as a billiard room, café-bar and cabaret show. These arcades were to enhance the newly built town hall and included a covered market for cereals. The covered market, arcades and alleyway made place Guillaume a stop-off and meeting place at the centre of the fortress-city.

Lined on each side with shops, it is covered by a glass roof illuminating the space. The ground floor is reserved for shops, whilst the upper floors house the music school and nursery, then the City Treasury respectively for accommodation. The alleyway is a well-organised retail space. Sales must made out inside the shops and no displays are allowed in the walkway. Originally, the Guillaume alleyway was closed off with shutters in the evening, and it was lit by two lanterns.

Ravaged by fire in 1884, it was rebuilt in exactly the same style by the city's architect, Antoine Luja. The alleyway is characterised by its mezzanine boutiques, located to the left and right of the walkway. Grethen-Knaff hosiery followed the leather goods shop as the alleyway's "department stores". Workshops are located above the commercial strip on the ground floor. Only luxury shops that don't sell goods that smell or perishable food products are allowed.

Access to the upper floors is through a concealed door (for security reasons). The staircase is in full view, highlighting the vertical nature of the structure. This alleyway in place Guillaume is a modest expression of those in Paris, Brussels and London. In its simplicity, it is more like the alleys leading to the central courtyards of the imposing buildings in St-Etienne.

Photos: © Rolph et Luko