Minett Trail: Lodge in Differdange

For the refurbishment of this worker’s house in Lasauvage, the jury originally selected the project of the architect’s office Jacques Lorang, which proposed to highlight the typology of the house and its characteristics (narrow plot, garden, volumes and windows opening up to the outside) by completely transforming its interior in order to adapt it to contemporary living expectations.

However, the city council expressed its preference for the jury’s runner-up, a project by Anouk Pesch Architecte. Working around the small footprint of the house, it unfolds from a large central community space that extends over two floors up into the attic. The lodge comprises three bedrooms named after famous witches. The architecture incorporates the work of artist Lea Schroeder, whose immersive frescoes invite visitors to reflect on the daily life of miners and their families in the heydays of the steel industry. The bas-relief pays homage to the savage woman who gave her name to the village (Lasauvage means literally ‘the wild one’).

Calling to all hikers and nature lovers: the sign-marking of the Minett Trail, a hiking trail across the 11 Pro-Sud municipalities, has begun. This exceptional 90-kilometer trail, launched by the South Regional Tourist Office (ORT Sud) in collaboration with Minett UNESCO Biosphere and with the support of the Ministry of the Economy – General Directorate of Tourism, will connect the emblematic tourist spots of the Minette region. Crossing three national trails that have been in operation since the late 1930s – Sentier du Sud 1 (Engl. Path of the South 1) (from Budersberg to Polvermillen), Sentier du Sud 2 (Engl. Path of the South 2) (from Rodange to Hellange) and Sentier des mineurs (Engl. Path of the miners) (circular route departing from Lamadeleine) – the Minett-Trail will open up new routes. It will run through several natural reserves in the Minette region, which have been recognised as a biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in October 2020, and will allow hikers of all ages to discover the South of Luxembourg in a unique way. More specifically, it will link several open-cast iron mines (for instance the ‘Prënzebierg – Giele Botter’), the Fond-de-Gras and the ‘Haard-Hesselsbierg-Staebierg’ nature reserve to Dudelange, as well as the new urban district of Belval, the city centres of Pétange and Dudelange, forest landscapes, etc.