We journeyed on a sneak preview of the Saint Martin route in the Greater Region. To find out more, read this article, written from the travel journals of the young participants…
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european institute of cultural routes |
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| Manon PINATEL |
| 20 June 2011 |
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Thanks to the support of the SNJ and the towns which welcomed us, we and a team of 12 volunteers were able to go on an adventure on the route of Saint Martin. It is hoped that this route will be formally marked out next year 2008.
After having symbolically offered the “Foot of Saint Martin� to the Church in Arlon which celebrated its Jubilee on Sunday 26th August, we took to the road on Monday morning, accompanied by young people from Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania and Italy (Valentina Fava for the Via Francigena’s review).
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We leave to discover the path of Trier
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Sophie Kleffer for La Voix Newspaper
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At first light on Monday morning, the participants met in front of church Saint-Martin, still half-asleep after the previous evening’s party. Our donkey was ready, he would accompany us like his ancient ancestor did with Saint Martin. Sophie Kieffer from La Voix came to wish us a safe journey; an article of our interview was published in La Voix on Tuesday 28th August.
We left the houses of Arlon and found ourselves in the green countryside of Luxembourg. We had a brief rest at Clairefontaine, we crossed Steinfort to reach the destination of our first day of walking: Septfontaines. In the shadow of the forests in Eisch valley, the village is dominated by a medieval chateau.
The village of Septfontaines was founded in the Merovingian period, the name referring to the seven water sources in the village, today reunited in the fountain in the main square. The valley of seven chateaux is dominated by a gothic church. It was built by Thomas de Septfontaines, friend of Henri VII. Although the church was consecrated in 1317, the oldest central tower is of a roman style. The centre and the south absydiode are gothic. In the 16th century, local lords had an armoured gallery built to the north for their own private use. The human figures found on the exterior walls remind of the protective function of the building. On the interior is a stone tomb from the 17th century which comes from a hermitage of the region. A Piéta and the charity of Saint-Martin of Septfontaines can be admired in a modern sculpture. Some steles of the old cemetery have been created by a well-known craftsman in the village, the rich ornamentation can be seen full of signs and symbols.
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Septfontaines Church, a graded monument
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Quest on the footsteps of Saint Martin in Hollenfels
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We benefited from a warm welcome at the end of our first stage, with the town’s bus and the trailer of Fernand Mamer waiting to accompany us to Hollenfels where we would spend the night.
At the youth hostel, our donkey Juliette met a companion for the night: the Cerf Bleu (Blue Deer). For the young people, a good meal was all it took to regain energy. The evening’s programme was an investigation game: the participants had to work out the story: why did Saint Martin left Trier in a hurry? The participants had to question witnesses from this part of the Saint’s life (the Emperor, empress, Priscilien, bishop lthaque). Each character presented his point of view on the history and gave the young participants a precious clue (glass of wine, letter from the bishop lthace etc..).
At the end of the game each team had 10 minutes to work out a plausible scenario that they would present to the group. At the end of the evening, we read the version of Sulpice Sévère together.
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The next day we left Hollenfels in the direction of Luxembourg city. It was the longest stage of our route. We passed by church Saint-Martin in Lorentzweiller where we had a break for lunch. In the afternoon, we headed down the Alzette valley towards Luxembourg. En route, we passed a few small grey donkeys who came to say hello to Juliette. But that didn’t stop our donkey from faltering a few kilometres later. A tree along the route meant we had to turn around. Juliette wasn’t built to jump over the obstacle. Therefore, we arrived at the beautiful church of Saint-Martin in Weimerskirch over an hour later than planned. It is said that the parish of Weimerskirch is one of the most ancient in Luxembourg, founded in the 5th century by Saint Martin himself. In fact, near the church is the Fountain of Weimerskirch where Saint Martin’s donkey would have had a drink. In the stained glass windows of the church, an illustration of the life of Saint Martin was created by glassworker Gustave Zanter in 1952 and which emits an unusual light. In the lateral chapel, the mural of the church of Weimerskirch can be seen. The reliquary dates from 1958 and contains a part of Saint Martin’s tomb.
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Arrival at Weimerskirch welcomed by the press
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A few explanations on this legendary place
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Once again we benefited from a superb welcome. Mr. Jung, president of the parish works, was present to give us a guided tour of the church, also followed by two journalists from Wort. An article was published in the Wort on Saturday 2nd September 2007.
We were very tired and it didn’t seem right to organise the photo competition for today so we decided to postpone it until Junglinster. In the evening we took our belongings to the hostel and our donkey to Mr. Heinz-Hermann Helting –de Labarre, vice president of the Institute Saint-Benoit Patron of Europe, who kindly lent us his stables for the night.
In the evening, we dined at the funfair! Free time until 11 o clock, but 11 o clock precisely as we had arranged to meet in front of the fair so we had to profit from our free time – rides, waffles…
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The next morning, we allowed ourselves a lie in until 9. To recover from the previous day, we had planned a short stage up to Niederanven and on the way we had a break near Weimerskirch to allow Juliette to drink from a fountain in which, according to tradition, Saint Martin lay an oak blessed by paganism on his way back from Trier. A quarter of Wiemerskirch parish is called “eich�, the oak, undoubtedly in memory of the missionary saint. Legend even says that his bishop’s cross spurted out from a fountain, the current Saint-Martin fountain. This fountain is also found in another literary source; Gervaise tells that Saint Martin made his donkey drink from the water…But Juliette wasn’t thirsty so we had to put a carrot in the bottom of the fountain! That encouraged her to dip her mouth in the water of her ancestor…
At Niederanven, Ed Weber was already there to welcome us, above the monument of Saint-Martin. The round building, similar to a small temple, is situated at the foot of Sennigerberg, on the ancient roman road which linked Luxembourg to Trier. It is in this very spot that according to the tale of Sulpice Sévère, Saint Martin had the vision of an angel. The life-size statue of the bishop, along with a small angel, is located on a cubic pedestal.
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Saint Martin fountain in Weimerskirch
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Saint Martin monument in Niederanven
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The inscription made by its creator, priest Joseph Bertrang, is in latin and refers to Saint Martin’s stay in Adethanna, Niederaven, of which there is evidence in the work of supplice Sévère dating from 384.
"Sanctus Martinus, sfflictus angel laeta consolatione aerectus consoletafflictos" (Saint Martin, consoled in his suffering by an angel, consoles the afflicted.)
After a brief historical tale on the origin of this monument, Ed Weber was joined by the deputy mayor of Niederanven. He officially welcomed us and proposed to accompany us to the room “Amr Sand� where we would spend the night. En route, Ed Weber continued his tale of the origins of the town: Andethana, the original name of Niederanven, is the oldest village name in Luxembourg. Documents and manuscripts prove this long history, the village was already shown on a “road map� dating from roman times. Also, many objects found in digs have shown that Niederaven was already a home to some families in the stone age.
Once we arrived, there were some surprises: a barbecue was already ready: a great welcome and grilled food - what more could we ask for? The youth club of Sennigen and the climbing club from Nideranven came to show us their new climbing room and let us have a go! After the meal we were all booted and harnessed ready to take on the wall! At the end of the evening, we were all very happy to take to our camp beds.
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The next day, Ed and Carole (teacher at Niederanven) accompanied us to the grotto of the hermit Shetzel. From the top of the hill, at the edge of the village, the traditional landscape of Niederanven can be admired, a landscape made up of rocky forms with a great view of the hilly landscaped, marked by woods, groves and hedged farmland.
Even further, the forest of Grunewald, with an area of 4500, is the biggest wooded area in Luxembourg. Classed as a historic monument in 1996, the Grunewald is also the largest reserve of drinking water in Luxembourg. To the east is an open landscape which men have always used as pastures. Despite its location near to Luxembourg city, the landscape of Niederanven has kept its rural character and the charms of traditional landscape. We left the forest of Grunewald to head for Gonderange, whose church houses a statue of Saint Martin. The parish opened its doors to us for the occasion.
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Statue of Saint Martin in Gonderange church
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Drawing competition in Gonderange church
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A chance for our young participants to reveal their artistic talents: they had to reproduce the statue of the saint with paper and crayons (the drawings can be seen in our photo gallery).
In the evening, we went to Bourglinster. We had planned to spend the night in the youth hostel. On the way, we left our donkey Juliette at the equestrian centre of Bourglinster, three-star accommodation for our donkey – box, as many oats as she could eat… But Juju seemed off form – she is so gentle and modest, but surrounded by pure-bloods with plaited tails, she seemed as uncomfortable as Martin at Emperor Maxime’s banquet.
The meal at the hostel was a bit like a goodbye dinner, as three participants were leaving, but tomorrow others would come to join us for the weekend.
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The next morning we visited Bourglinster chateau before setting off for Junglinster. The beauty of this area is focused around its church. A late baroque-style church was erected from 1772 to 1773. This church is dedicated to Saint Martin, on the entrance of the church the saint can be seen, welcoming followers. Inside is the high alter of Junglinster church, also dedicated to Martin and dating from the 17th century. It is from the noble convent of Marienthal and was mainly created by Jean Van den Sten. For centuries, the church was a necropolis for the lords of Bourglinster chateau. The tomb stones of former lords of Linster can be admired from the entrance of the Church, in styles from late gothic to neo-classical. The organ and the buffet also come from Marienthal.
On arrival at the church, the photo competition was launched: photos taken by Alex Langini of “Service of Sites and Monuments� were slipped into envelopes and participants, in groups of two, had to find the place in which the photo was taken. We then made them use their imagination to take the same photos but from a different point of view: more original and more personal. After a long break for lunch, we headed for Betzdorf where the team of Institute Saint-Joseph and magistrate Marie-Jose Frank were waiting for us. We visited the Institute Saint-Joseph, a welcome centre for handicapped people, belonging to the church and built on the site of the ancient chateau. This modern institute is built from wood and concrete. It has a sports room, a swimming pool and 11 life units (a small group of 8 people managed by medical personnel). The institute had to be renovated in order to hold up to 100 people, day care and home care. The children get to know Juliette and are delighted to show us their guinea pigs!
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church Saint-Martin de Junglinster
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Institute Saint-Joseph de Betzdorf
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A great welcome was organised in the cafeteria. The sisters of Saint-Joseph joined us to get to know our route. The magistrate helped us discover her town by sharing her experiences as deputy mayor. The priest then gave us a guided tour. The church, modest on the outside, is decorated in a Baroque style. In Betzdorf, the high altar dedicated to patron saint Martin, is decorated with cherubs and gilding. On the antependium (in front of the altar), a kindness of Saint Martin is represented. The church dates from 1140 but was entirely rebuilt in 1748. The frame had to be redone recently. This investment should give the town a European restoration award. We were then accompanied in mini-bus to the hall in which we would spend the night. We had everything we needed: shower, mattresses and the room was so big that we could organise a little welcome for the new participants who had joined us for the next stages of the walk. Juliette stayed at the Institute Saint-Joseph and was kept company by the children.
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When we woke up, Sophie, Jolene, Zeina and Nori joined us and were ready to set off. Marie-Jose Frank came on bike to say goodbye.
We followed a country path to Manternach, where the path entered a thick forest. A bit further on we reached the path of “one hundred steps�. Quite an effort for us, and a real test for Juju!! Would she make it – we encouraged her and whispered in her ear, got a carrot out… Our patience was wearing thin and we argued that Saint Martin’s donkey had passed that way so surely it is technically possible for any other donkey. There, Juliette, our pudgy donkey from Bastogne, launched herself at an incredible pace and arrived at the top before us!
After this emotion we took a snack break and set up camp for the night. But another mishap would break up our evening. Valentina’s insect bite, which was red yesterday, had turned purple. In case it got any worse, we decided to go to the pharmacy, then the hospital to find out more.
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Institute Saint-Joseph de Betzdorf
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Landscape in Wasserbillig
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The landscape around Wasserbillig is full of passages: the passage of the Sûre towards Moselle, Luxembourg towards Germany by road, train and the Moselle canal. The view over the intersections is beautiful from the height of Bockberg. And Bockberg reminds that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, coming from Trier, passed by the Igel column (the roman funerary monument of Seccundini) and crossed Luxembourgian soil on 26th August 1792, en route towards the capital.
It was during the Roman period that the two rivers served as routes navigation, Biliacum was created this way as a commercial crossroads, in the first century A.D. Not far from the church, the remains of a roman tomb can be seen with its walls dating from the 1st century as well as the foundations of a mortuary monument from the 2nd century. Wasserbillig church with its two cupolas is one of the town’s characteristics. The baroque altar which decorates the interior dates from 1748 and comes from the abbey of Bernkastel.
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Happily the next day, Valentina had returned by 8am safe and sound and ready for the last stage. Walking towards Trier along the Moselle with our tired donkey, the route seemed a bit monotonous. But Trier wasn’t much further, just before arriving in the town we applauded the German Wakeboard champion (who we came across by chance): nothing would make us break from our route!
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Trier
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Trier, Basilica
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A wonderful arrival in Trier, to the sound of klaxons and applause. Michel Thomas-Penette, director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes was in place to welcome us. Pascal Desperdenge was also present to reward Juliette and return her home.
We are now at the Constantin the Great exhibition, Constantin and the Christians. A notice is dedicated to Saint Martin…we now see his story differently…
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