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© Pancake! Photographie
The Good Life Bettembourg's fairytale park and adventure trail
4 minutes
The giant's journey
Story summary
Bettembourg’s Parc Merveilleux: An adventure park whose giant is brought to life in a magical story.
A living mascot: In the comic book story, the giant, "De Ris", goes on a search for a missing friend.
Adventure trail: Visitors can follow the giant's path on a special map and discover clues around the town of Bettembourg.
Fairytale adventure: Visitors love the fairytale stations in the park and the giant walking trail, which combine reality and fiction in an engaging way.
Bettembourg’s “Parc Merveilleux” (fairytale park) is a tourist magnet which is well-known in Luxembourg and beyond the country’s borders. Its landmark is the giant, lying next to a playground for children to climb onto. But one day the giant wakes from his slumbers. Are you brave enough to follow him through the park and the town of Bettembourg?
The giant suddenly snores loudly, shifts in his sleep and Léa and Ben almost fall off his belly in shock. Is he alive after all? The two five-year-olds look towards the source of the noise. It’s just a loudspeaker! And the good old giant in Bettembourg’s Parc Merveilleux is only a model. But what if he really did come to life?
Bettembourg © Pancake! Photographie
A park mascot
The giant, whose name in Luxembourgish is “De Ris”, has been the park’s mascot from the very beginning. He has changed his appearance over the years and used to look much scarier. “My grandma used to say that if you’re not good, the giant will wake up in the park,” says Patrick Hurt, communications manager for the municipality of Bettembourg, with a grin. Of course, he too has known the giant since he was a child. There is a comic book all about the park’s giant for those who are curious to know what would happen if he were to get up and start walking around…
The comic book’s images show how the giant, who has been sleeping in the park for decades, suddenly wakes up. He and the park’s animals are delighted at first. But then the friendly “Ris” discovers that his close companion, Thumbelina, who usually always stays by his side, has disappeared. Has she been kidnapped?
He must return to the fairytale park to find out. The giant sets off together with Lori the parrot, and searches all over Bettembourg until he gets to the bottom of the mystery.
Bettembourg © Pancake! Photographie（https://www.visitluxembourg.com/fileadmin/_processed_/6/6/csm_Bettembourg_Parc_Merveilleux_L6-028_-_Pancake_Photographie_07306a21c8.jpg）Bettembourg © Pancake! Photographie（https://www.visitluxembourg.com/fileadmin/_processed_/9/6/csm_Bettembourg_Parc_Merveilleux_L6-059_-_Pancake_Photographie_6dd7088b1d.jpg）
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In addition to characters from the local community, the story is inspired by real-life events. For example, the little Thumbelina figure really did disappear from the park. And there really was a “Ghost Army” in Bettembourg during the Second World War: in which dummy tanks and actors posed as soldiers to make the enemy believe there was a huge army stationed there.
The highlight of the whole story is that you can follow the giant’s path on a short hike in Bettembourg using a special town map. There are echoes of the giant and his friends all over the town. The giant can be seen sleeping in the park with a book of his story beside him. You can also find his oversized red cap on a meadow, or spot him on the town’s large water tower, seated and soaking wet in the town park’s pond, leading visitors into the town’s old orchard where cows keep the grass short, and you can even bring the giant to life using the augmented reality app. The whole experience is ideal for family outings.
Friends Ben and Léa enjoy racing between the fairytale stations, as well as listening to and watching the stories unfold. The original buildings contain various scenes from the most famous fairy tales. Each window in which characters move is a chapter of the story.
Bettembourg © Pancake! Photographie（https://www.visitluxembourg.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/4/csm_Bettembourg_Parc_Merveilleux_L6-054_-_Pancake_Photographie_6bfea701dd.jpg）
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Real life and fiction collide
The idea of using the fairytale park for a real story on the one hand and turning the small town of Bettembourg into a stage for a tourist experience, namely the giant’s adventure trail, had been on the minds of committed Bettembourg residents for some time. “As part of Esch2022 Capital of Culture, we then said: we have to make this happen!”, says Patrick Hurt.
In 2019, plans were made, the adventure trail was put together and Bettembourg artists created works of art at each of the giant’s stop-off points. Last but not least, two well-known comic book creators wrote a comic book: Lucien Czuga who, among other things, invented the likeable Luxembourg superhero “Superjhemp”, and Andy Genen, a young illustrator and graphic artist whose penmanship can be found in several projects and heroes.
The fact that the book was published as part of Esch2022 – European Capital of Culture, and to mark the tenth anniversary of the Bettembourg “LiteraTour” Book Festival, fits with the idea of bringing things together: past and present, fiction and reality, art and nature.
As a well-loved Luxembourg attraction, the authors themselves know the park well. Andy Genen, a child of the 1970s, has fond memories of his visits there. “My favourite thing was always the tiny horses and the little racing cars,” he says.