The Grand Ducal Couple's Romantic and Artistic Sunday in Venice
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa stroll along the canals (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
On 1 September 2024, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg continued their visits to Venice. In this romantic setting, the Luxembourg sovereigns posed on the canals, in front of the most beautiful palaces of the Serenissima. The Grand Ducal couple had devoted their Sunday to art, visiting the Luxembourg pavilion at the Biennale.
(Photo : Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa enjoy an artistic Sunday in Venice
In the spring of 2024, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie travelled to Venice with their two children. This was the first visit to Venice by the two sons of the heir to the throne and the first trip by the young princes in an official capacity. The crown couple visited the Biennale and inaugurated the Luxembourg pavilion. On 1 September, it was the turn of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa to follow in the footsteps of their eldest son.
Romantic walks of the sovereigns, one month before the appointment of their son William as lieutenant-representative (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa have been in Venice for three days, mainly as part of the Mostra, the famous film festival. On the fringes of the festival, the sovereigns are attending various engagements related to Luxembourg audiovisual production, which is being highlighted this year in the film market organized in parallel.
After spending two days at the cinema, the Grand Ducal couple are now turning their attention to contemporary art (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa discovers the works of the Biennale (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Le couple grand-ducal visite la Biennale, quelques mois après leur fils, leur belle-fille et leurs petits-enfants (Photo : Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
This Sunday, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa had put aside their cinematic concerns and had granted themselves a few hours devoted to contemporary art. The sovereigns could not leave the City of the Doges without having visited the Biennale, and in particular the Luxembourg pavilion inaugurated a few months earlier by their son and daughter-in-law.
An artistic Sunday for the sovereigns (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duke Henri admires works of art (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
The sovereigns visit the Luxembourg pavilion at the Venice Biennale
The main pavilion of the Biennale is installed in the Giardini di Venezia. The Luxembourg pavilion is entitled “A Comparative Dialogue Act”. It is the result of the collaboration between the Luxembourg musician Andrea Mancini and the design collective Every Island. Joel Valabrega of MUDAM (Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) is the curator of the pavilion.
Bettina Steinbrügge, director of MUDAM Luxembourg, the Minister of Culture, Eric Thill, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the artist Andrea Mancini (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa visiting the Luxembourg pavilion (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
The pavilion is approached “as a space of production and experimentation, open to invitations to other artists,” explains MUDAM. “Sound is considered here for its capacity to function as a common space as much as to create interferences, contaminations and superpositions.”
Discovery of the Luxembourg pavilion designed by Andrea Mancini and the Every Island collective (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa discovers this infrastructure which plays with sound transmission (Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/LUXPRESS)
A holiday atmosphere hung over the sovereigns, who would gradually lighten their agenda. In October, Grand Duke Henri would appoint his son Guillaume as lieutenant-representative, which would allow him to replace his father in many of his functions. Grand Duke Henri would gradually fade away until the moment when he would definitively hand over the reins by choosing to abdicate.
Nicolas Fontaine
ROYAL ARTS VISIONS; Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa enjoy an artistic Sunday in Venice