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Deauville meets Deauville 2004 goes to Vianden

The second "Deauville meets Deauville" in 2004 was from June, 17th to June, 20th in Vianden, a small city of Luxembourg near the border to Germany with a nice landscape and a lot of possibilities for nice tours around.

More than 230 participants from 13 countries met in Vianden. The longest way beside our special guest from Australia have had Bo and Ingela from Sweden and Mark from the Orkney Islands (UK).

The origins of Vianden date back to the Gallo-Roman age when there was a castellum on the site of the present castle. The first historical reference to Vianden was in 698.

In the Middle Ages, Vianden's craftsmen were recognised for their skills as tanners, drapers, weavers, barrelmakers, masons, locksmiths and goldsmiths. In 1490, they created guilds for their various trades. Over the years leathermaking became the major industry with the establishment of two tanneries at the end of the 19th century which finally closed in the mid-1950s.

The castle was built between the 11th and 14th centuries and became the seat of the counts of Vianden. It was further developed until the 18th century but with the departure of the Counts of Luxembourg to the Netherlands combined with the effects of fire and an earthquake, it slowly deteriorated.

Not until 1977, when Grand Duke Jean ceded the castle to the State, was it possible to undertake large-scale work, most of which has now been completed. Vianden is also remembered as the last place in Luxembourg to be freed from the Germans in World War II in February 1945 when the Americans completed Luxembourg's liberation. A memorial to the west of the town, overlooking the castle, commemorates this final battle.