Notre-Dame Cathedral

You're standing in front of Luxembourg's only cathedral, and it didn't start out as one. It was built in the early 1600s as a church for the Jesuits, in a style that mixes late Gothic with the new Renaissance and Baroque fashions arriving from Italy — look at the doorway and you'll see both worlds at once: pointed arches next to swirling stone ornament.

It only became a cathedral in 1870, after the Jesuits were long gone and Luxembourg finally got a bishop of its own. Most of what you see from outside is later still: between 1935 and 1938 the church was doubled in size, and two of its three spires date from then. On Good Friday 1985, the 5th of April, roofers' work set the old west tower alight; it collapsed with its bells and was rebuilt by October.

Step inside, if it's open, and head down into the crypt, past two bronze lions by Auguste Trémont. It holds the tombs of Luxembourg's Grand Ducal family, and — far older than the building itself — the remains of John the Blind, the 14th-century King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg who died charging into battle at Crécy in 1346 despite having lost his sight years earlier. He's become something of a national symbol here, the archetype of loyalty and courage against the odds.

Every year in spring, the cathedral is the goal of the Octave, a pilgrimage to Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted, patroness of the city since 1666 — for two weeks the pilgrims come, Place Guillaume II round the corner fills with stalls, and this quiet building becomes the busiest spot in the city.