Luxembourg
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
[French] Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
[German] Grossherzogtum Luxemburg
CAPITAL: Luxembourg
FLAG: The flag is a tricolor of red, white, and blue horizontal stripes.
ANTHEM: Ons Hémecht (Our Homeland).
MONETARY UNIT: The Luxembourg franc was replaced by the euro as official currency as of 2002. The euro is divided into 100 cents. There are coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents and 1 euro and 2 euros. There are notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 euros. As of May 2003, €1 = $1.0977 (or $1 = €0.911).
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.
HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Labor Day, 1 May; public celebration of the Grand Duke's Birthday, 23 June; Assumption, 15 August; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Christmas, 25–26 December. Movable religious holidays include Shrove Monday, Easter Monday, Ascension, and Pentecost Monday.
TIME: 1 PM = noon GMT.
Location, Size, and Extent
A landlocked country in Western Europe, Luxembourg has an area of 2,586 sq km (998 sq mi), with a length of 82 km (51 mi) N-S and a width of 57 km (35 mi) E-W. Comparatively, the area occupied by Luxembourg is slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island.
