On Local Matters today, we go hiking at the Haardt nature reserve between Kayl and Dudelange. On the hill, we walk over red earth and see a variety of plants that are only at home in the southern part of the country. They have spread here after the mining activities were stopped in the 1970s. Jan Herr shows me around, he works for the Nature Administration and is responsible for the maintenance of the nature reserve. “This place is special because the workers used to dump the slag from the furnace here. During the following decades, interesting plants have settled on top of this slag. Here, we have a special kind of orchid that has grown here on the slag.” Many types of wild orchids like the soil that the mining industry has left, it is poor in nutrients. Only a thin organic layer has evolved over the past decades. The plants don’t want more nutrients. “These areas are very important. Habitats have evolved here that you normally wouldn’t find anywhere else in this region. The landscape here has been created artificially. Now, you find hectars of dry grasslands, a habitat for rare plants that you find here in great quantities.”
The flowers attract bees and other insects, lizards, small snakes and wild bees live in the stone piles and crevices of the walls. “Wild bees like this place, they find many places to nest, rock faces and boulders, and they don’t need to go far to find loads of nectar and pollen.” Nature here reconquers the space that once belonged to it, before the mining industry took over.
Since last year, a hiking trail connects the most interesting nature reserves and cultural attractions in the south. Over 90 kilometres distance, the minetttrail leads to all interesting point sin the south – with cabins in between where hikers can get rest. The cottages were opened last year, for the European capital of culture Esch2022. All eleven cabins have been designed by artists and reflect the industrial heritage of the region.
The hiking trail after passing the Haard nature reserve leads directly to the new cabin in Dudelange, under the water tower, on the pond, this cottage is floating on the water. A large glas front gets the visitors a direct view over the pond to the water tower. The Luxembourgish artist Frank Miltgen designed the building together with a team of architects. The shape of the cottage resempled a rock in the nature reserve Haardt. The pump house is a space for exhibitions. The plant has been cleared of all the previous equipment, but the industrial character is the same. Now, the pump house hosts exhibitions.
Until mid August, the old water tank hosts a exhibition by photographers Vanessa Brown and Mike Bourscheid. The curators try to bring two different artistic approaches together in a multi-media experience on the former industrial site. The exhibition is called The hand that topples the tower. The pump house is one single large exhibition hall in a red brick building. It is connected to the water tower. Since 1928, the building towers Dudelange. It was renovated in 2007 and now features a lookout point instead of a water tank. The elevator brings us up there. Large windows allow the view over the neighborhoods of Dudelange, and the woods and the hills behind.