Official decorations are honours awarded by a state in recognition of a service or in the context of diplomatic functions. The recipient may then, according to certain conventions, wear a metal symbol (cross or medal) attached to a ribbon. Honorary orders may be granted in both a military and a civilian class.

This remarkable set is composed of some forty medals awarded to Joseph Bech (1887-1975) in the course of his political career. Considered to be one of the “Fathers of Europe”, this Diekirch lawyer was first elected deputy in 1914. He lived through both world wars and represented Luxembourg in all multilateral negotiations during and after World War II. As Minister for Foreign Affairs, he was highly committed to the creation of the Benelux Union and the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community). Bech left the department of foreign affairs in 1959 after having served as minister for 30 years. He was then president of the Chamber of Deputies between 1959 and 1964. He left the political scene at the age of 77 and died eleven years later, in 1975.

At his death, Joseph Bech’s family donated all of his medals to the museum. These were honours he had received between 1924 (Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia) and 1960 (Grand Cross of the Order of George I of Greece and Grand Cross of the Order of the Thai Crown). Some of them are unusual, but all of them are prestigious. Some, like the Grand Cross of the Order of Malta given to him in 1931, are particularly rare and precious.

Text | CC BY-NC | François Reinert and Cécile Arnould