€18m LUGA 2025 Programme A ‘Highlight For The City’

On Wednesday 6 May 2026, the Luxembourg Urban Garden (LUGA) programme held its closing press conference in the Auditorium of Cercle Cité in Luxembourg-Ville, at which it presented a retrospective of the LUGA 2025 programme.

The press conference saw contributions from Luxembourg’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and Viticulture, Martine Hansen, Mayor of the City of Luxembourg, Lydie Polfer, Bob Steichen, Mayor of Ettelbruck, Ann Muller, General Coordinator of LUGA, and LUGA project manager (Nordstad), Danielle Goergen.

In the opening speech, Minister Hansen congratulated the LUGA team for its work during the seven-month exhibition of nature, agriculture, ecology which saw residents, cross-border visitors and international guests visit installations and attend events across Luxembourg City, as well as in Ettelbruck at the LUGA Nordstad installations.

Mayor of the City of Luxembourg Lydie Polfer congratulated the LUGA team for what she described as “a highlight for the city”, in particular in relation to the number of visitors and the positive feedback received from them, to which she noted: “I was very satisfied with the result”.

Ann Muller, General Coordinator of LUGA, presented details of the highlights of the LUGA 2025 programme, which included approximately 363,000 visitors to LUGA installations and events across Luxembourg City, including more than 14,000 visitors to the Aquatunnel installation, 33,000 visitors to the Orchid Greenhouse and more than 24,000 visitors to the Serre Merveilleuse Greenhouse. 

Online, there were more than 15 million views of LUGA campaigns and partner campaigns, from more than 460,000 visitors, and nearly 1.9 million views on the website www.luga.lu. The LUGA interactive map recorded more than 181,000 consultations, while the four LUGA hubs - the LUGA Lab, the LUGA Culture Hub, the LUGA Science Hub and the LUGA Agriculture Hub - accumulated more than 800,000 views on Google Maps.

Ann Muller noted that throughout the duration of the exhibition, the LUGA team observed strong and sustained attendance across its various sites, as well as a high-level of engagement by residents and visitors at the programme’s urban gardens, living spaces, landscape and artistic installations and agricultural projects.

For the LUGA Nordstad programme, it was noted that the counter installed on the bridge leading to the agricultural crop demonstration sites recorded more than 64,000 crossings between May and September 2025, with an average of 100 to 200 crossings per day during the week and 200 to 300 crossings per day at weekends. Other flagship events in the Nordstad programme, such as International Milk Day saw more than 1,000 visits recorded on site, with the cooking workshop, the wheat trail and specialised conferences also recording high attendance levels.

In total, more than 1,500 events were organised as part of LUGA 2025, with 150 volunteers contributing to the success of the programme. 

The initial budget allocated to LUGA Asbl for the 2025 exhibition by the City of Luxembourg (VdL) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Viticulture was €22,000,000, which was shared equally between the two entities. The final cost was calculated at approximately €18,700,000 and the unused subsidies will be returned in equal shares to the VdL and the supervising ministry, in accordance with the statutes of LUGA Asbl.

The budget initially allocated to LUGA Nordstad amounted to €2,800,000. This consisted of a contribution from the City of Ettelbruck of €1.4 million and a contribution from LUGA asbl of €1.4 million. The final amount of the LUGA Nordstad exhibition amounted to approximately €2,800,000.

In terms of the legacy for LUGA 2025, Ann Muller highlighted that the programme generated significant benefits for the national economy. As part of the implementation of the exhibition, LUGA Asbl launched numerous public tenders and collaborated primarily with stakeholders from Luxembourg and the Greater Region. Beyond infrastructure, LUGA delivered concrete and immediate results: strong attendance at sites, new patterns of neighbourhood use and the creation of social connections around the installations and events.

In line with a circular economy approach, many installations were reused, while plants and materials were redistributed to citizens, associations and Luxembourg institutions or transformed through upcycling and recovery processes, in line with the environmental commitments set out in the LUGA eco-responsibility charter established from the design phase of the exhibition.

In Luxembourg City, 22 installations have been retained in their original locations in the Édouard André Municipal Park, the Pétrusse Valley, the Alzette Valley and Kirchberg and remain visible beyond the exhibition. Other installations will be reconstructed at different sites. 

In the LUGA Nordstad area, the Agricultural Urban Trail, along with several agricultural projects and developments, will continue in public spaces, including the LUGA Agriculture Hub and eight permanent agricultural projects. Additionally, several developments will be reconstructed at other sites and 25 local trees have been preserved for the City of Ettelbruck.

In closing, Ann Muller presented the LUGA 2025 Exhibition Catalogue, which features extensive details of each LUGA installation, programme and activity amongst its 443 pages. It can be downloaded at https://luga.lu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026_catalogue_expositionluga_web.pdf

The full activity report can be viewed at https://luga.lu/en/press-area/

Caption: (L-R) Ann Muller, General Coordinator of LUGA; Martine Hansen, Luxembourg’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and Viticulture; Lydie Polfer, Mayor of the City of Luxembourg; Bob Steichen, Mayor of Ettelbruck

Credit: Steven Miller, Chronicle.lu