The groundbreaking ceremony for the National Archives was attended by Félicie Weycker, President of the Fonds Belval; Georges Mischo, Mayor of the City of Esch-sur-Alzette; François Bausch, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility and Public Works; Sam Tanson, Minister of Culture; Daniela Di Santo, Director of the Fonds Belval; Josée Kirps, Director of the National Archives (photo: Ministry of Culture)

The groundbreaking ceremony for the National Archives was attended by Félicie Weycker, President of the Fonds Belval; Georges Mischo, Mayor of the City of Esch-sur-Alzette; François Bausch, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility and Public Works; Sam Tanson, Minister of Culture; Daniela Di Santo, Director of the Fonds Belval; Josée Kirps, Director of the National Archives  (photo: Ministry of Culture)

The work on the national archives site has begun. The symbolic ceremony took place on Thursday 3 March in Belval which is a relief for a project that was initiated almost 20 years ago.

The construction of the national archives building has begun at the foot of the administrative tower. The ceremony took place on Thursday 3 March in the presence of the deputy prime minister and transport minister François Bausch, and the culture minister Sam Tanson.

This was certainly a moment of relief for the designers of this project, Paul Bretz Architects, who had to wait almost 20 years and also to redesign the building. “With this new infrastructure, which complies with current standards of sustainable development and energy efficiency, the national archives will soon be able to store all its documents in excellent conditions," said Bausch.

The national archives will be located at the foot of the administrative tower, on the current site of the car park. (Illustration: Paul Bretz Architects)

The national archives will be located at the foot of the administrative tower, on the current site of the car park. (Illustration: Paul Bretz Architects)

The construction work is to be spread over a 36-month period, the time needed to build the 25,769m2 of floor space required to house the 45km worth of archives contained in the archives' storerooms. “Proper management of information and archives is essential for the maintenance and transmission of our collective memory. A great advantage of this site in Belval is obviously the proximity and connections with the University of Luxembourg”, said Tanson.

The programme of the new national archives has been considerably reduced compared to the 2003 competition that the architectural firm won. In addition, the client has announced that it now wishes to develop a positive energy building and, if possible, to use wood as a building material. These changes required a new design that was accepted by a bill, validated on 6 March 2020 with an estimated budget of just over €77m. The Belval Fund is in charge of the project.

Technical sheet Project owner: Fonds Belval

Architect: Paul Bretz Architects

Civil engineer: Milestone Consulting

Technical engineer: BLS Energieplan

Start of works: March 2022

Estimated duration of works: 36 months

Budget: 77.2 million euros

Net area: 15952m2

Gross area: 25,769m2

Construction volume: 102,607m3

This article was originally published on  and has been translated and edited for Delano.