Because of its strate­gic posi­tion, Lux­em­bourg was, from the 16th cen­tu­ry until 1867, when its walls were dis­man­tled, one of Europe‘s great­est for­ti­fied sites. It was repeat­ed­ly rein­forced as it passed from one great Euro­pean pow­er to anoth­er: the Holy Roman Emper­ors, the House of Bur­gundy, the Hab­s­burgs, the French and Span­ish kings, and final­ly the Prus­sians. Until their par­tial demo­li­tion, the for­ti­fi­ca­tions were a fine exam­ple of mil­i­tary archi­tec­ture span­ning sev­er­al cen­turies.