Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Second Day of Portuguese State Visit to Luxembourg

Today was the second day of the Portuguese state visit to the Grand Duchy. (For the daytime activities of Day 1, have a look here; for the glittering end of the day, here.) We will conveniently only cover the grand ducal related parts of the state visit by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. For a full intinerary (in French), have a look here.
Photo: SIP / Charles Caratini
This morning, Grand Duke Henri and his guest from Portugal visited Château de Betzdorf. Once a home of the Grand Ducal Family and actually birthplace of Luxembourg's head of state, the castle now is the headquarters of SES, a satellite communication services company. After a brief presentation of the company's activities, the heads of state visited the Satellite Control Center. The visit of SES ended with a meeting of the President of the Portuguese Republic with employees of Portuguese nationality.
Photo: SIP / Jean-Christophe Verhaegen
President Rebelo de Sousa was then accompanied for several events by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel before being joined by the Grand Duke for a visit to Esch-Belval. Belval is a former brownfield turned scientific and cultural center, hosting the scientific academy of the Université de Luxembourg as well as Rockhal, the Grand Duchy's largest music venue. At the "City of Science", they got a presentation on urban planning and the urban design concept of a blast furnaces terrace.
Photo: SIP / Charles Caratini
At the House of Knowledge, the President and the Grand Duke were welcomed by Romain Martin, Vice-President of the University of Luxembourg, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Educational Sciences, Georg Mein. After a presentation by the University of Luxembourg, a cooperation agreement was signed between the universities of Luxembourg and Porto. In addition, President Rebelo de Sousa had the chance to meet with Portuguese people and Luxembourgers of Portuguese ancestry studying in Luxembourg.
Photo: SIP / Charles Caratini
Back in town, the Grand Duke and the Portuguese President were joined by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa for a visit to the National Museum of History and Art for a guided tour of the exhibition "Portugal - Drawing the World". They also visited the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, where they were welcomed by the Archbishop of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Hollerich, the Bishop of Faro, Manuel Neto Quintas, and the Bishop of Bragança-Miranda, José Manuel Cordeiro.
Photo: Mathieu Cugnot / EPA
The day ended with the traditional return dinner given by the President of Portugal for his hosts. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie (in Paule Ka) were also present for the reception and Baroque concert of the Casa da Música at the Salle de musique de chambre. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa likely wore Yves Dooms once again plus, more importantly, parts of the citrine or topaz parure.

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