Dieter Thommes sits on a bench on the east bank of the Our river and watches the traffic crossing the bridge towards Luxembourg. “There, a Cologne resident,” says the former local politician from Daleiden (Germany), glancing at a car’s number plate. “And his first impression of Luxembourg,” he adds, pointing to the building on the opposite bank. He is taken with the former customs house in Dasbourg-Pont, and he is brimming with ideas about what could be done with it.
“The building dates from 1919 and survived the Second World War unscathed,” said Thommes. “The arrangement of the windows, the dormer – everything is still just as it appears in old photographs. Not even an extension has been added. That’s unique.” The old building, he stresses time and again, is the first thing one sees in Luxembourg after crossing the Our.
“The first impression of Luxembourg,” as Dieter Thommes noted during the conversation whenever a car with German, Belgian or Dutch number plates rolls across the bridge towards Luxembourg. © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert
“It’s not too late yet,” says Thommes, referring to the preservation of the vacant building in the municipality of Parc Hosingen. But why is a German so passionate about a customs house just across the border? “I’m a neighbour, after all,” he says matter-of-factly, whilst sitting on a bench where the German counterpart customs house once stood. “We live in the same region.”
New ideas for an old witness to history
The national border, in the Luxembourg–Germany–Belgium border triangle, is no mental barrier for the long-serving local councillor in the Arzfeld municipal association.
Everything is still just as it appears in old photographs. Not even an extension has been added. That is unique
Dieter Thommes
Former local politician from Daleiden
Thommes has a number of ideas for the building’s future: for instance, fitting out office space or developing it for tourism – perhaps even as part of an international project involving Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium, although he admits this is “easier said than done”. He also suggests a use by the Our Nature Park, for which he says he would be willing to make available a riverside meadow he owns a few hundred metres further on.
The former local politician lives just across the border and considers himself a neighbour of the building, the preservation of which he advocates © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert
Thommes’ dream has a flaw
The ideas are thwarted by the condition of the building’s interior, as can be seen from the ministry of housing and spatial development’s response to a parliamentary question from André Bauler in September 2025. The premises, previously used as flats, had to be declared uninhabitable in 2018 due to “severe and uncontrollable damp”. A complete renovation proved “very complicated, even impossible” due to the building’s hillside location directly on the rock and the lack of waterproofing.
The customs house is clearly visible in this photograph from 1940. At that time, the slope behind the house was not yet wooded. “The building needs every ray of sunshine,” says Thommes, referring to the damp in the building © Photo credit: Privat
The Fonds du Logement affordable housing builder carried out a feasibility study in 2018, which proposed the demolition of the dilapidated building with a view to constructing a small residential complex. However, the study was not completed “as the distances prescribed by the current land-use plan (PAG) could not be met”. This information is still current, the ministry confirmed in response to an enquiry from the Luxemburger Wort.
The building had been identified by the ministry of the environment as a vacant building of potential tourist interest, it added. However, no specific tourism project is currently planned. For such a project to be realised, a local authority or private entity would need to step forward as the project sponsor, which could then potentially receive support from the Directorate-General for Tourism at the ministry of the economy. The Fonds du Logement is currently in discussions with the municipality to find a suitable solution for the use of the site.
What the municipality says
“We are in regular contact with the Fonds du Logement to find a possible use,” Mayor Romain Wester said. He hopes that the building’s history can at least be preserved by maintaining its historic exterior, particularly as it stands at an important gateway to the country, as Wester also emphasises. At the same time, the mayor also points out that the building has damp problems due to its location. For this reason, and because it is situated in a Natura 2000 area, it is difficult to implement a project here.
Unlike its German counterpart on the opposite side, the Luxembourg customs house on the Doosber Bridge is still standing. What will become of it, however, remains unclear © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert
The idea of using it for tourism has come to nothing, Wester said. “There were no interested parties; we didn’t get the impression that anything tourism-related would come of it.” When asked whether the municipality could invest itself, he points out: “That hasn’t been an option for us so far, as tourism in the north is organised regionally and it has never been an issue at that level.” The focus is more on tourist hotspots such as Bourscheid, Vianden and Clervaux.
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Accessibility is also an issue, as a car is indispensable in the north and a corresponding number of parking spaces would need to be created. Furthermore, Wester continues, in this case the municipality would also face the problem of dealing with damp – a costly affair and not the rural municipality’s top priority. “We would therefore be pleased if the government retained responsibility for the building and, for example, created affordable housing there,” Wester said.
(This article was published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by Alex Stevensson.)
