The bright red model of the ‘Klemm’, a light aircraft dating from 1935, is impossible to miss from a distance. The exhibit hovers in the glass-walled upper floor of the Mondorf Aviation Museum, bearing witness to the fact that this spa town has a very special connection with the nation’s aviation history.
“Nowadays, not everyone knows that the first Luxembourgish pilot landed on Mondorf soil,” says Mayor Steve Reckel (DP). In April 1910, the industrialist Charles Bettendorf organised the first Luxembourg Aviation Week in Bad Mondorf, attracting more than 100,000 visitors to the spa town at the time. On a meadow, Jacques Wiesenbach, a mechanic from Diekirch, became the first Luxembourger to attempt a flight.
Since then, Bad Mondorf has been closely linked to the history of national aviation. Over 200 exhibits are on display at the Aviation Museum, which opened in 2012 in the ‘Source Kind’ pavilion. Twelve years later, the municipality is planning to upgrade the museum. “The exhibition is to become more modern and digital. The content is to be presented in a more professional manner. And we also want more young people and adults to visit the museum,” says Steve Reckel.
The figures already speak for themselves: around 4,600 people – including over 1,100 children – visited the museum last year. Mondorf itself has long since become a major attraction in its own right – drawing around one million visitors a year to the spa town, mainly thanks to the casino and the thermal baths.
The new concept is due to be finalised by the start of next year’s tourist season. The upgrade will cost around one million euros, with the municipality and the Ministry of the Economy each covering half the costs. In a competition, the Berlin-based design agency ‘Tactile Studio’ and the Luxembourg-based firm ‘Historical Consulting’ were selected to carry out the project.
Volunteers have been collecting exhibits for years
The museum exhibition is run by volunteers from “Fligermusée asbl”, the association for the preservation of aviation heritage, formerly known as ALMPA. Over the years, its members have collected artefacts from the private aviation industry in Luxembourg, most of which are on display in the museum.
The association has around 120 members. Jean-Claude Jacoby, president of “Fligermusée asbl”, and Gaston Kohn, the exhibition’s long-standing curator, are delighted with the support for the expansion, as much of the collection is priceless given the annual membership fee of 25 euros.
“We have been funding the exhibits out of our own pockets for some time,” says Gaston Kohn. The association would like more space for the exhibits. Although the permanent exhibition, covering around 220 square metres, tells the story of aviation from 1909 to the present day, most of the exhibits, according to Kohn and Jacoby, cover the period up to 1970. “We no longer have any room for modern items,” the pair lament.
Plans for an extension under discussion
Kohn even has a few exhibits at his home. A historic twin-engine “Gerfan” Canard-type aircraft also has to stay outside. The model aircraft, built in 1988, stands on the upper level of the thermal park opposite the Waasserhaus cinema and is covered with a tarpaulin. “The aeroplane is sensitive to the weather,” reports Jacoby. It was donated to the museum by its inventor, Raymond Vasseur from Thionville.
“We have been funding the exhibits out of our own pockets for some time now.”
Gaston Kohn
Curator of the exhibition and member of the “Fligermusée asbl”
“We would like to see if we can also integrate this aeroplane into the revamped exhibition,” says Jean-Claude Jacoby. To house all the exhibits under one roof, the association has long dreamed of an additional extension next to the museum. So far, these plans have not been realised.
The association would like more uniform display cases to protect the exhibits inside the building and a flight simulator for the public. “For this, we are reliant on the support of the local council and other stakeholders,” says Jean-Claude Jacoby. Air conditioning is also needed: “It gets too warm in here in the summer.”
Text: Luxemburger Wort