LuxembourgLuxembourg's history reads a bit like the storybook background its landscape suggests. Though the area's occupation actually extends back further than the Roman era, present-day Luxembourg stems from the loins of Count Sigefroid of Ardennes, who raised a castle here in 963 AD and sowed the seeds of a dynasty that's spawned rulers throughout Europe. By the end of the Middle Ages, Sigefroid's city had the Burgundians, Spanish, French, Austrians and Prussians all waging bloody battles to conquer and secure it. Besieged, destroyed and rebuilt more than 20 times in 400 years, it grew to become the strongest fortress in Europe after Gibraltar.