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Back in the mid-13th century, Place Guillaume II (named after King William II of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg) became the site of the church and monastery of the Franciscan order. The popular name for the square, "Knuedler", was derived from the Luxembourgish word "Knued" (knot), denoting the knot in the belt of the Franciscan friars. In 1797, the monastery and its property were seized and partially disposed of by the French. In the decades that followed, the monastery buildings were razed to the ground, and the square was rebuilt.
Today, the "Knuedler" is dominated by a statue of William II on horseback and the Town Hall.
Equestrian statue of William II
The bronze equestrian statue that dominates Place Guillaume II was erected in honor of the King-Grand Duke William II of Orange-Nassau. He reigned from 1840 to 1849, and one year before his death, he gave the Grand Duchy its first parliamentary constitution, one of the most liberal constitutions in Europe at the time.
The statue was erected in 1844. The pedestal of the monument bears the coats of arms of the House of Orange-Nassau and the City of Luxembourg, plus the twelve cantons of the Grand Duchy. An exact replica of the monument was erected in The Hague .
The Town Hall
History
In 1795, after revolutionary French forces took the fortress, the Franciscan friars occupying what is now Place Guillaume II were forced to leave their monastery. When Napoleon I visited in 1804, he handed over the monastery to the City of Luxembourg as a gift.
From 1795 onward, the old Town Hall (the present-day Grand-Ducal Palace) was partly occupied by the central administration, and later by the Prefecture of the "Département des Forêts”.
The municipal administration was forced to keep moving from one building to another.
To put an end to this state of affairs, the building of a new Town Hall, which had been planned since the early 19th century, actually became a reality when the plans of Liège architect Justin Remont were approved in 1829
The construction of the new Town Hall, designed in the neo-Classical style , began on 15 July 1830. The construction materials were largely taken from the old Franciscan monastery, which had occupied the front of the current Place Guillaume II until 1829.
In 1838, the building was finished. The first meeting of the Communal Council was held on 22 October of that year, chaired by Mayor François Scheffer.
On 15 July 1844, the Town Hall was opened by the King-Grand Duke William II.
The big change the Town Hall was subjected to was the conversion of market halls in the basement into offices - a modification decided on by the German occupying forces during the Second World War. The two lions guarding the main entrance of the Town Hall, which were the work of the Luxembourg animal sculptor Auguste Trémont, were only placed there in 1938.
Nowadays, the Town Hall mainly houses the offices of the central administration and the Council Chamber which is also used for major national and European ceremonies (notably the signing of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community) and for receiving foreign sovereigns and heads of state visiting Luxembourg.
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(1) Luxembourg City Tourist Office (ed.); Luxembourg, la ville - Discover, p. 22.
(2) Id., p.43.
(3) Luxembourg City Tourist Office (ed.). Luxembourg. Promenade à travers le cœur historique de la capitale, Luxembourg 1979.
(4) Bref aperçu de la Ville de Luxembourg, p. 49. SIP, Luxembourg 1993.
(5) Luxembourg, la Ville - Discover; p. 24. Luxembourg 2000.
(6) Bref aperçu de la Ville de Luxembourg, p. 49. SIP, Luxembourg 1993.
(7) Luxembourg City Tourist Office. (ed.). Luxembourg. Promenade à travers le cœur historique de la capitale, Luxembourg 1979.
(8) Id.
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