The list starts with the most celebrated record holder in the Grand Duchy, Georges Christen. Known for his displays of strength such as pulling a 20 ton wagon with his teeth, or preventing three Cessna planes from taking off, Christen holds no fewer than 26 records. At 56 years of age, the Luxembourger is still demonstrating his abilities on demand, as our colleagues at 5Minutes discovered in September. The video is below for your entertainment.
Video in French.
Naturally, the largest book pyramid was launched by a bookshop. Librairie Ernster stacked 63,377 books at the Belle-Étoile shopping centre between March and May 2015, to celebrate the bookseller's 125th anniversary. The event also raised money for a child protection organisation. Although the record was validated by the Guinness Book of Records, it has since been toppled by a pyramid constructed in Illinois, USA, which counted a massive 144,000 books. Can Luxembourg mount a fresh challenge...?
Daniel Urlings is the sort of chap who does not shy away from a challenge. At school, the Bereldange resident became known for his crazy acts to entertain his friends. Matches are Urlings' speciality, having once constructed a chessboard using 3,638 matchsticks and later building a fully-functioning Rubik's cube. As if that weren't enough, he also built the largest Rubik's Cube in the world, with sides measuring 3.52 metres.
In 2002, Urlings also succeeded in balancing 750 euro coins on top of each other, a feat which is surely worthy of some celebration.
A restaurant in the Grand Duchy achieved an impressive record in 2009: Chiggeri in Luxembourg City held the longest wine list, with 1,746 wines! The collector who amassed this phone-book level wine list was named the best student sommelier in France.
The last record is held by the country as a whole: in 2008, Luxembourg returned to the Guinness Book of Records for its record numbers of cars per residents: 647 cars per 1,000 residents.
The numbers have risen since, with 662 cars per 1,000 residents in 2016. A figure which will surprise absolutely no one who has ever sat in a traffic jam on the Grand Duchy's roads.
