Luxembourg's capital dates back a thousand years.

The first castle on the rock of Luxembourg was built by Count Sigefroid in 963. So many fortifications have been added over the years that the castle has been called the Gibraltar of the North.

The fortress of Luxembourg has over twenty-one kilometres of underground passages cut into the rock on which it stands.

In 1994 the fortifications of Luxembourg city became a World Heritage site.

St Willibrord, who came from Northumberland in England, founded an abbey in Luxembourg in 698.

The remains of a Roman villa have been excavated at Echternach.

The Basilica in Echternach contains the body of St Willibrord in a white marble sarcophagus.

The town of Echternach is famous for its Whitsun dancing procession - a medieval religious tradition still followed today.

Berdorf is one of the most popular tourist centres. Its church has a Roman altar with sculptures of Apollo, Hercules, Minerva and Juno.

The origins of Vianden, built on the banks of the River Our, date back to the ninth century.

Clervaux is a medieval town with a twelfth century castle. The castle houses an exhibition of models of other Luxembourg castles.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is headed by the Grand Duke or Grand Duchess.

During the occupation of Luxembourg by the Germans in the Second World War, the Grand Duchess, Charlotte, lived in London with other exiles from the Grand Duchy.

During the Second World War, in 1942, a General Strike took place against the German occupying army following the issue of a decree conscripting Luxembourgers into the Wehrmact.

George S. Patton, the famous American general, is buried in the US military cemetery of Hamm.

Radio Luxembourg was a successful commercial radio station in the 1950s; the village of Junglister is dominated by the radio station's transmitters.

Robert Schuman, known as the father of the European union, was born in Luxembourg.

A number of institutions of the European Community are based in the capital of the Grand Duchy.