Musée Eugène Pesch

Useful Information

Location:	Lasauvage. (49.526261, 5.837920)
Open:	MAY to mid-JUL Sun, Hol 14-18. Mid-JUL to mid-AUG Thu, Sat, Sun, Hol 14-18. Mid-AUG to SEP Sun, Hol 14-18. [2022]
Fee:	free. [2022]
Classification:	Mining Museum Iron Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Musée Eugène Pesch, Maison Depienne, carreau de mine à Lasauvage, Rue Principale, 4640 Lasauvage, Tel: +352-26-50-41-24. Espace Muséologique Lasauvage, Pl. de Saintignon, 4698 Differdingen, Tel: +352-26-50-41-24.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1625	first smithy built.
1979	Eugène Pesch dies and leaves his collection to the municipality of Differdange.
1982	collection first opened to the public in the Centre Marcel-Noppeney at Uewerkuer.
2007	collection moved to Lasauvage.

Description

The Musée Eugène Pesch is located in the «Maison Depienne», on the ground of the abandoned mine at Lasauvage. This small town is located in Luxembourg, but right at the border to France, which is only 150 m to the north and west. So the actual name of the village is Zowaasch, which is Letzebuergsch and creates the same sound if spoken loud, which is actually quite funny. The whole area is a mining park named Parc Industriel et Ferroviaire du Fond-de-Gras, and this mining museum is a part of the park. The Museum has a fine collection of fossils, minerals and mining tools, which were collected during many years by Eugène Pesch from Differdange. He died in 1979 and left his collection to the municipality of Differdange. The collection was first opened to the public in the Centre Marcel-Noppeney at Uewerkuer (Oberkorn). In 2007 the museum moved to Lasauvage. There is also a reconstruction of a mining gallery showing the difficult working conditions of miners in the early 20th century.

The carreau are the surface infrastructure of the mine, offices, workshops, storage sites, changing rooms and canteens. They were located around the mine entrance. The salle des pendus, the showers of the miners and the changing and dressing room are part of the museum. The cloths hung on hooks and were pulled to the ceiling on long chains. Hanging clothes dried easier and faster as in the closets, and it simplified the floor cleaning. Each worker had his own chain closed by a padlock. He was hanging his normal clothes when he changed for the mine, and his working clothes when he returned.

Actually there are two separate museums. The Espace Muséologique Lasauvage is 300 m down the road. It is dedicated to the history of the village. There is also an exhibition about the Luxembourgers who hid in a mine to avoid being drawn into the Wehrmacht during World War II. It is housed in the old building where Count Saintignon, the ironmaster of Lasauvage, lived.

The town Lasauvage is located in a narrow, remote valley, which is not very good for iron furnaces. But an important point were the existence of three important factors nearby: the iron ore, the woods for making charcoal for the furnaces, and the Croisnière river which powered mills. There was originally no village, in the 19th century Lasauvage was built to house the mine and furnace workers.

If you are at Lasauvage you should also have a look at the Sainte-Barbe church, a neo-Gothic church built by Count Saintignon. The church is dedicated to the patron Saint of the miners, Saint Barbara. There is a statue on the outside of the church, which is rather special, as the traditional iconographic attribute of Saint Barbara is a tower she holds in her hands or which stands by her feet, but here she is displayed inside a tower.

At last a not mining related info. The Musée national de la Résistance et des Droits Humains at Esch-sur-Alzette is also worth a visit. Only the mining related part of the story is told at the Musée Eugène Pesch.