Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Top-level
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

2/ First up, Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί is a constitutional monarchy headed up by a Grand Duke. It is a last remnant of a time when central Europe was a patchwork of tiny fiefdoms.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_du

Long-time followers will recall we asked about "non-kingdom monarchies" as our March 2023 #fridaygeotrivia question.
blog.opencagedata.com/post/geo

#geoweirdness

9 comments
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

3. πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί Luxembourg's capital is ... Luxembourg City, thus also making it a correct answer in our July 2022 #fridaygeotrivia question, where we asked for countries whose capital has the same as the country.

blog.opencagedata.com/post/geo

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

4. Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί has three languages: German, French, and Luxembourgish (a Germanic language with many French loan words), and multilingualism is an every day part of life, with different languages being used in different situations.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilin

Same topic but in Luxembourgish: lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9i

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

5. In southeastern Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί at the point where the country borders Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ and France πŸ‡«πŸ‡· we find the village of Schengen (pop. 4200) which was the site of the signing of the 1985 "Schengen Agreement" paving the way for free movement within what is today known as "The Schengen Area" (pop. 423M)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

6. On a related note Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί is one of four institutional seats of the European Union πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί (along with Brussels πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ, Strasbourg πŸ‡«πŸ‡·, and Frankfurt πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ).

Luxembourg City hosts various EU institutions including the European Court of Justice.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

7. Despite the country's motto of "Mir wΓ«lle bleiwe wat mir sinn" ("We want to stay what we are"), following the Second World War Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί briefly expanded to claim a small part of Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ.

In 1959 it was returned to Germany in exchange for a settlement payment.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembou

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

8. In what can only be explained as a deliberate attempt to infuriate the writers of geocoding software, we note that immediately to the west of Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί, Belgium πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ has a province also named "Luxembourg" which is actually larger than the entire country of Luxembourg!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembou

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

9. Besides being part of the EU πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί and NATO, Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί is a member of the Benelux Union (with πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡³πŸ‡±) and the SaarLorLux "Euroregion" (with regions of πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡«πŸ‡·πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benelux
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

10. The flag of Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί is very similar to the flag of nearby Netherlands πŸ‡³πŸ‡± (though with a different shade of blue, and slightly different proportions).

This has lead to a movement to change the flag to the "red lion" flag currently used as the civil ensign
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

11. That's it for our look at the #geoweirdness of Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί

Thanks for reading and boosting. What did we overlook?

If this part of the world is of interest to you, you may also enjoy our threads about

β€’ Belgium πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ en.osm.town/@opencage/11004877
β€’ Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ en.osm.town/@opencage/11115394
β€’ France πŸ‡«πŸ‡· en.osm.town/@opencage/10993004

You can find all our geoweirdness threads over on our blog.

blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

11. That's it for our look at the #geoweirdness of Luxembourg πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ί

Thanks for reading and boosting. What did we overlook?

If this part of the world is of interest to you, you may also enjoy our threads about

β€’ Belgium πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ en.osm.town/@opencage/11004877
β€’ Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ en.osm.town/@opencage/11115394
β€’ France πŸ‡«πŸ‡· en.osm.town/@opencage/10993004

Go Up