Description
The burial monument erected in memory of Sophie de Bette offers some insight into life in early 19th-century Luxembourg City. The de Bette family lived in the former Rue du Gouvernement (the section of Rue du Marché-aux-herbes between Rue du Curé and Rue de la Reine). François Louis Bette, who was born in Ghent in 1722, acquired the building at no. 24 in 1773, when the Jesuits were disbanded. François Louis Bette was a captain in the Count of Arberg's regiment in the service of H.M. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. He passed away in Luxembourg on 9 July 1813. In 1763, he married Marie-Angélique du Prel, the daughter of Baron du Prel et d'Eyden. Their daughter, Sophie-Mathilde, was born in Luxembourg on 24 June 1781, and died unmarried on 6 May 1855.
The family residence no longer exists, but it typified the quality of life enjoyed in the fortress city at the time. The corridor featured cross-ribbed vaults. The drawing room had a fireplace with a fireback depicting the Judgement of Solomon and bearing its date of manufacture (1702). The room's walls were decorated with woodwork and the walls themselves were built using stonework from former buildings, probably dating back to before the bombings by Louis XIV in 1684. The kitchen featured a chimneypiece with columns. On the first floor, overlooking what is now the Marché-aux-Herbes, was a room with an old stone chimneypiece. The vaults in the cellar were supported by four arches, themselves supported by pilasters and an octagonal column. The entire vault system was made from dressed stone. Sophie Bette bequeathed this magnificent property in 1847. The bequest, which included the sum of 3,422.68 francs, was accepted in 1859.
