Copyright pictures: Gemeinde Parc Hosingen
Guided tours of the Hosingen water tower (daily from 9 am to 4:30 pm, depending on guide availability) can be booked with the municipality of Parc Hosingen by phone at 92 13 41-1 or by email at population@hosingen.lu.
Before the installation of water pipes and reservoirs, the residents of Hosingen obtained their water mainly from private or community wells, such as the Pafeburen, the Klousterburen, or the wells on the Deifert or in the Kraeizgaass. For laundry, there were also wash wells, including those in the Wäschbicht and the Bärzbicht.
Since the wëlls — even in the event of a fire — could no longer meet the needs of the growing villages over time and often dried up, the construction of public water supply networks experienced a major boom starting at the turn of the 20th century. Of inestimable value to the Oesling region was the founding in 1929 of the “Syndicat de la Distribution d’Eau des Ardennes” (DEA), to whose water supply network Hosingen was connected as early as 1930.
To this end, construction of the Hosingen Water Tower began in 1930–31; at 33 meters tall and with a capacity of 100 m3, it was a majestic structure. From this reservoir, water was conveyed to the village via a hydrant line and distributed throughout.
But the water tower was also a true attraction from the very beginning. On the ground floor, visitors could admire the large suction and pressure pumps before climbing 138 steps—accompanied by the sound of rushing water—up the spiral staircase to a viewing platform. “The water tower in the upper village, which is likely the only one of its kind in the country, has an easily accessible platform from which tourists have a wonderful view all the way to the Schnee-Eifel and Arlon,” reads a festival brochure published by the Hosingen Fire Department in 1936.
Yet it was precisely this role as an excellent lookout that would prove to be the tower’s undoing barely ten years after its construction: During the Battle of the Bulge (1944-45), the stone giant was blown up by retreating German troops to prevent the Americans from using it as a watchtower.
After the war, the municipality and the DEA initiated efforts to rebuild the water tower in 1947. After obtaining all necessary permits, the plans drawn up by the Department of Public Works for the construction of a new tower, 30.15 meters high and with a capacity of 100 m³, were finally approved by the municipal council in February 1950. In May 1952, the project was definitively completed with the approval of the final invoice in the amount of 1,172,734.85 francs (approximately 29,500 euros), of which 460,380.05 francs were borne by the municipality and 712,354.80 francs by the Ministry of Reconstruction.
Since 2025, the tower — which is still in use as a water reservoir — has been part of the “Memorial Parc Housen” project and houses an exhibition on the wartime history of Housen and the role of the water tower during the turmoil of the Battle of the Bulge.
