Ghosts of the Villa Brings Radio Luxembourg Back to Life

On Tuesday 3 March 2026, members of the press, including Chronicle.lu, and former employees of Radio Luxembourg were invited to a preview of the multimedia project Radio Luxembourg - Ghosts of the Villa ahead of its public opening at Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg city.

The immersive exhibition explores the history of Radio Luxembourg through an interactive experience which is influenced by each visitor’s movement through the exhibition space. The story of Luxembourg’s historic radio station is told through the voices of former DJs, archival recordings, musical performances and listener stories from across Europe.

Dominique Santana, Luxembourg-Brazilian researcher, director and transmedia storyteller, welcomed the attendees to the tour and gave an overview of the project’s history and the team’s efforts to create an experience which allowed people to “reconnect with fragments of what Radio Luxembourg represented” and to “keep the legacy of Radio Luxembourg alive”. 

She said: “I want to really express my gratitude and say thank you very much for maintaining this community and for keeping the legacy of Radio Luxembourg alive. Thank you for your voices, thank you for your creativity, for your trust and for carrying this spirit across decades and continents. It is an honour for all of us to welcome you back and thank you for being here.”

The immersive experience is driven through geo-positional headsets which provide audio to each listener based on their location within the exhibition. Narrative audio is available in English, French, German and Luxembourgish, while archival audio recordings are kept in their original language.

The exhibition begins at the visitors’ entrance of Villa Louvigny, where the descriptive audio recreates the atmosphere of a busy reception area with presenters and guests coming and going. This then leads to a corridor which features a radio-style frequency graphic along the wall, where, depending on where one stands, different archival recordings from Radio Luxembourg will play.

Following this are a series of listening environments dressed up to represent the various locations in which listeners would tune in to listen to their favourite shows on Radio Luxembourg. These include a car interior, a bedroom, a kitchen and a living room, with each tastefully decorated with historically accurate furniture, ornaments and details from life in Luxembourg in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

The main part of the Ghosts of the Villa experience is undoubtedly the impressive Villa Louvigny auditorium, which was originally a rehearsal, recording and concert hall for the RTL symphony orchestra (which later became the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra). During its heyday, the venue hosted concerts, audio recordings and live broadcasts featuring artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys and The Grateful Dead.

The auditorium features several installations, including a mocked-up mail room - showing the letters and postcards the radio station would receive from fans around the world - recording desks and broadcast equipment used by the station’s DJs, the “Blow Up” room representing the famous Luxembourg nightclub where rock band Queen played in 1973, as well as a wide variety of signed posters of pop and rock icons, including The Beatles and Elton John, and a wide range of other memorabilia. Each installation features its own distinct audio accompaniment, providing a nostalgic insight into everything on display.

In the centre of the auditorium, a large screen has been installed showing projections of archival news footage of breaking news events from across the decades. The audio for this footage tastefully interrupts the audio being played on each headset, mimicking the effect of listening to a breaking news bulletin on Radio Luxembourg. As the screen is situated centrally, visitors can turn and watch the footage from wherever they are in the auditorium.

Most impressive of all is the seating area in which a number of “reserved” seats feature the names and details of former DJs, Luxembourg Prime Ministers and staff, as well as listeners from across Europe. Visitors are invited to sit next these “ghosts” and listen to their memories of the radio station and how it shaped their lives and became an integral part of radio broadcast culture from its beginnings in 1933 up to its closure in 1992.

Radio Luxembourg - Ghosts of the Villa is open to the public from Wednesday 4 March until Friday 3 April 2026. Entry to the exhibition is free. However, reservation is required.

Please note that due to ongoing renovation work at Villa Louvigny, disabled access is limited.

Further information can be found at www.radio.lu.