On Thursday 21 April 2016, the Musée National de l'Histoire et de l'Art (MNHA) will hold the opening for a new exhibition Cold War in the Grand Duchy.

Exhibition curator Régis Moes explained how the topic is somewhat of an uncharted territory, with the new display aiming to facilitate and encourage discussion of the topic, particularly with regards to the role playing by the Grand Duchy in forming international alliances during this unsettled time.

This is highlighted in the exhibition through contemporary documents and everyday objects, from a jukebox gleaned from a Gasperich café symbolising the "American way of life" and a furnished living room reflecting an improved standard of living, to doors from local bunkers, spyware and life-size figures clad in hazmat suits and gas masks.

Documents and posters meanwhile provide testament to the relations forged between Luxembourg and various countries and to its ties with emerging organisations, including NATO, which was established through the North Atlantic Treaty signed by the Grand Duchy and ten other countries on 4 April 1949. In line with the objectives of the organisation, Luxembourg was depended on as one of the countries supplying troops to prepare for a potential conflict, later providing further assistance to NATO in 1953 as tensions were exacerbated by transforming its army into a Regiment Tactical Group (GTR). Subsequent changes to the structure of the military made the issue a key topic of political debate right up until 1967.

Alliances with regions are also evoked through objects such as the Key to the City of Prague, awarded to Luxembourg by the city after non-communist political parties, trade unions and youth organisations in the Grand Duchy protested the 1968 invasion of the Czechoslovakian capital by Warsaw Pact armies. Public gestures of solidarity demanded that the USSR withdraw from Czechoslovakia, whilst an area of Luxembourg City was rechristened "Jan Palach Square" to commemorate a Prague student who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest the Soviet occupation.

This temporary exhibition will be open from 22 April to 27 November 2016 at the MNHA. The opening will be held at 18:00 on Thursday 21 April 2016 in the presence of Luxembourg Prime Minister, Minister of Culture, Xavier Bettel; Secretary of State for Culture, Guy Arendt; and Director of the MNHA, Michel Polfer.

Photos by Sarah Graham