From records to remembrance
Nicolas Paul Antoine van Werveke (born 23 July 1851 in Diekirch, died 24 February 1926 in Luxembourg City) was an important Luxembourg historian. He was active in the field of numismatics and heavily involved in cultural and linguistic research. He was also a history teacher first in the capital, at the Luxembourg Atheneum, from October 1892, and then at the vocational school from May 1895. Later, from 1909 to 1911, he became the first headteacher of the Lycée de Jeunes Filles in Luxembourg.
For over 50 years, van Werveke devoted himself to the history of Luxembourg spanning the 12th to the end of the 18th century, transcribing or describing numerous documents and files that he found in archives in Luxembourg and abroad always with reference to Luxembourg’s history. The impressive scope of his work is reflected, among other things, in the more than 100,000 documents that are kept in the National Archives today.
Towards the end of his career, Nicolas van Werveke wrote a three-volume work entitled Kulturgeschichte des Luxemburger Landes (Cultural History of Luxembourg), covering the everyday, economic and social history of Luxembourg.
