History

Origin of Mondorf-les-Bains ?

The origin of the name Mondorf goes back to the Carolingian dynasty, i.e. the Frankish kings. Charlemagne had a niece named “Muomina”, who donated all her possessions to the abbey of Echternach. Among these properties was the small village, which thus took the name “Muomendorph”.

In addition, Charlemagne married Hildegarde de Thionville. Forced to travel frequently between Thionville and his small capital of Aachen, he had a residence (“Pfalz”) built in Mondorf, which served as his base.

As a border village between France and Luxembourg, the toponymy of Mondorf varied over time: Muomundorf (960), Mamendorf (1030), Muomendorph (1069), Momendorf (1147), Muomendorph (1161), Moyndorff (1440), Momendorf vel Mommendorff (1444), Mundorf (1572), Mendorf (17th century), Mondorf (1681), Mundorff (1790), Mondorff (1801).

Where does its name come from?

The first inhabitants of Mondorf were the Celts. The Roman presence began in 65 BC. Jesus Christ and the Saint-Sauveur Chapel, called the Castel Chapel, dates from this period. It was built on Celtic fortifications and was intended to protect the Metz-Trèves road. Its access path is lined with steles representing the seven Sorrows of the Virgin.

Located at the crossroads between Germany and France, Mondorf was repeatedly looted, burned and rebuilt. Thus, the church of St. Michael of 1065 was rebuilt four times, the last time in 1764.

In memory of the Floralies

Description of the coat of arms

Mondorf-les-Bains (Lux) and Mondorff (Fr)

August 28, 1878: The seaside resort is authorized by royal decree to take the name of : Mondorf-les-Bains

The Treaty of Versailles in 1769 established the current border, splitting the parish of Mondorff in two. The Luxembourg part of the village kept this name until 1872, when the first post office of the seaside village was created. Following the delivery of a postmark, which due to misinterpretation had only one final “f”, the Luxembourg part of the twin town adopted the new name of Mondorf, with the addition: – les-Bains.

Birth as a spa town

The Dutch domination in the 19th century and the constraints were to change the destiny of the commune, until then an agricultural and wine-producing village. In season of the Dutch monopoly and the exorbitant taxes on salt, salt was sought in Luxembourg. In Mondorf there was a small stream with slightly salty water.

1841 - Drilling begins

Beginning of the drilling by Karl Gotthelf Kind, who created the first thermal spring (for the search of rock salt) on the initiative of the notary Ledure.

1846 - Curative use

After 5 years of effort, the drilling rig broke at a depth of 730 meters (a European record at the time) and work was abandoned. The drilling did not find any rock salt but, at 460m, a mineralized spring was discovered. The notary Ledure proposed to use it for curative purposes.

June 20, 1847

Inauguration of the first spa.

1852

1st request for the establishment of a gaming casino by the Blanc brothers and opening of the Hôtel du Grand Chef.

May 28, 1855

William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 to 1890, stayed at the Hotel Grand-Chef de Mondorf-les-Bains with his brother Henri, the Prince of Orange-Nassau and vice-admiral of the Dutch fleet. William III was the son of William II of the Netherlands and Anna Pavlovna of Russia and therefore the nephew of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.

August 1855

Edmond de la Fontaine (alias Dicks), son of Governor Gaspard Théodore Ignace de la Fontaine and one of the greatest poets in the Luxembourg language, stays in Mondorf-les-Bains at the Hotel Grand-Chef where he writes and composes “D’Mumm Sěs oder De Gêscht”.

1864

Mondorf already had 8 hotels in this year: Hotel de l’Etablissement au Parc Thermal, Hotel de l’Europe, Hotel du Grand Chef, Hotel du Commerce, Hotel de France, Hotel du Nord, Hotel des Bains and Hotel de Luxembourg.

November 15, 1864

The Mondorf spring and the outbuildings are sold to a group of investors who created the “Société Anonyme des Bains de Mondorf”.

August 27, 1868

Birth of John Grün in Mondorf-les-Bains (later known as the strongest man in the world)

August 26, 1871

Victor Hugo having been successively expelled from France, Belgium and the island of Jersey, found refuge in Guernsey and in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where he followed a thermal cure from August 26, 1871 in Mondorf and completed the collection “L’Année terrible”. He stayed at the Hotel de Paris in Altwies until September 24, 1871.

August 28, 1874

Auguste Liesch was born in Mondorf-les-Bains. He was a magistrate and politician (member of the Government and the Council of State), but it was his literary creation “Maus Kätti” that made him famous and that still makes him one of the most popular writers in the Luxembourg language.

August 28, 1878

The seaside resort is authorized by royal decree to take the name of : Mondorf-les-Bains.

1882

Inauguration of the railroad line connecting Luxembourg to Remich and passing through the commune of Mondorf (“Jangeli”)

November 3, 1882

Birth in Mondorf-les-Bains of Frantz Clément, famous Luxembourg author, journalist and publisher. He was editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Tageblatt and a great critic of the Nazi regime. Arrested by the Gestapo in July 1941, he was deported to the concentration camps of Hinzert and Dachau. Having been declared unfit for work, he was transferred to the Hartheim/Linz killing center in Austria on May 6, 1942. He was murdered there with gas and incinerated the same day.

April 21, 1886

Vote of a bill which concerns the resumption of the thermal establishment by the State.

1896

Grand Duke Adolphe and his brother Nicolas stayed in Mondorf-les-Bains with, among others, the Prime Minister of the time, Paul Eyschen.

1900

Creation by the industrialist Charles Bettendorf of a bottling station for Mondorf thermal water to be sent to individuals in Luxembourg and abroad.

1901

The same Charles Bettendorf started to build 5 houses in the “Art Nouveau” style in the Avenue des Bains.

1903

Inauguration of the railroad line connecting Mondorf to Thionville. This line was called “Jängelchen”.

1907

Construction of the synagogue. Consecrated on September 26, 1908 in the presence of Rabbi Fuchs, it is the symbol of the first generation of Jews settled in Mondorf-les-Bains.

June 05-12, 1910

Aviation Week with the Aero Club of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Mondorf-les-Bains. Newspapers at the time estimated that more than 100,000 people (which was almost half of the country’s population) came to Mondorf during that week.

November 03, 1912

Death of John Grün.

1913

Drilling of a second spring: the Marie-Adelaïde spring at a depth of 464 meters.

1920

Inauguration of the first John Grün monument.

February 14, 1923

Grand Duchess Charlotte visits the thermal park.

1926

Opening of the Palace Hotel and the new hydrotherapy facility, now known as “Al Thermen”.

1937

The pianist Arthur Rubinstein and the composer Maurice Ravel are visiting Mondorf-les-Bains at the Hotel Grand-Chef. Ravel stayed there for almost a whole year.

Between 1939 and 1945

Occupation of Mondorf-les-Bains by the Germans.

May-November 1945

The Palace Hotel was transformed into a preventive prison for the Nazi leaders before they were transported to Nuremberg.

1948

The State buys the Palace Hotel, which was sequestered after the war, to house the administration of Mondorf-Etat, as well as the medical institute and the dance and reading rooms.

1952-53

Jean Monnet, then president of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), stayed for 8 months in Mondorf-les-Bains. First at the Grand-Chef Hotel and then at 36, avenue des Bains, during the months when the hotel is closed. He received the Heads of State of France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg and thus laid the foundations for the functioning of the newly created ECSC in Mondorf-les-Bains.

1963

Inauguration of the new pavilion over the Kind spring.

1970

Visit of the Yugoslav President Tito, who stays at the Hotel Grand-Chef.

1979

Drilling of the Michel Lucius spring at a depth of 750 meters.

April 16, 1983

The CASINO 2OOO opens its doors.

May 1, 1988

Official opening of the new thermal and health center.

2002

Shimon Peres stays at the Grand-Chef Hotel.

April 24, 2015

Visit of the cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to have gone into space on March 18, 1965, to the Fligermuseum.

June 22, 2015

  • Visit of the Grand Ducal couple on the eve of the national holiday in Mondorf-les-Bains, in the pouring rain.
  • Inauguration of the Maison Relais.

May 13, 2016

Opening of the Clara Reinert Garden at the entrance to Mondorf-les-Bains (from Altwies).

Clara Reinert (1888-1968) was a midwife who maintained a “small maternity ward” in her house on rue du Moulin.

April 13, 2019

Visit of the Russian cosmonaut Gennadi Padalka at the Fligermusée (cosmonaut who stayed 878 days in space – divided in 5 missions)