Registered by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Register since 2003, this photographic exhibition put together by Edward Steichen, director of the MOMA and of a Luxembourg origin, has made Clervaux and its medieval castle the Picture Centre of Luxembourg.

When putting his exhibition together, Steichen called on professional and amateur photographers, both known and unknown to the general public. From the two million submissions from around the world, he selected 10,000 in the first stage, finally using 503 photographs from 273 different photographers from 68 different countries. They make up “The Family of Man” through 37 subjects presented through impressive hangings, ranging from love to faith in man, and covering birth, work, the family, education, children, war and peace, etc.

The exhibition has been described as “the greatest photographic project ever undertaken”. A great undertaking with cultural and artistic dimensions, which had a considerable influence on exhibition organisers, which aroused the interest of the general public in photography, and which was powerful in its capacity to communicate a humanist message that was as courageous as it was provocative. The exhibition has become a legend in the history of photography. It goes far beyond the traditional ideas of exhibitions, and it may be considered as the memory of an entire era, that of the Cold War and McCarthyism, in which the hopes and desires of millions people throughout the world were focused on peace.

It goes far beyond the traditional ideas of exhibitions, and it may be considered as the memory of an entire era, that of the Cold War and McCarthyism, in which the hopes and desires of millions people throughout the world were focused on peace.