Leuven: History

Pre-20th-Century History

With origins that date back to the 9th century, it wasn't until the 11th century that Leuven began to develop as a trading centre for the burgeoning cloth trade, influenced by its position on the river Dyle.

Three centuries later, the cloth trade dwindled and the town was set to fall into decline. Its saving grace came in the form of a new university (founded in 1425 by Duke John IV), the building of which prompted a boom in Gothic architecture, including the building of Stadhuis, Leuven's flamboyant town hall.

Within a century of its founding, the Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven (KUL) had become one of Europe's most highly regarded universities. It attracted famous academics and freethinkers, such as the cartographer Mercator, Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus and the father of anatomy, Andreas Vesalius.

In response to suppression by French and Dutch rulers during the 18th and 19th centuries, the university became a bastion of Flemish Catholicism and these days is still at the heart of Flemish thinking.

Leuven continued to prosper in the 18th century, in part thanks to the introduction of a canal and paved roads, but religious wars, plague and famine took a heavy toll. The final nail in the town's coffin was hammered in when the French invaded in 1794. Not until 1830, when Belgium gained independence, did the town and its fabled university regain its previous importance.

Modern History

The knocks didn't stop there and Leuven suffered heavy damage in both world wars. The centre was destroyed by German occupiers in WWI and, after a careful and sensitive reconstruction, was again flattened by bombing raids in WWII. As a consequence, the town has relatively few genuine remains of early times. The buildings that do remain, however, are some fine examples of Baroque and Gothic architecture.

In the late 1960s, the university was in turmoil over the insistence of Flemish students that lectures be conducted in their mother tongue. Eventually, their French-speaking counterparts were forced to set up a new Francophone university at the town of Louvain-la-Neuve, southeast of Brussels. In one of those typically Belgian scenarios, the university then split its reference library in two - the KUL kept everything from A to L, and Louvain-la-Neuve took M to Z!

Recent History

Most visitors are drawn to Leuven to see the Stadhuis, one of Belgium's most ornate town halls. There is plenty more on offer, however. As Flander's premier university town, Leuven hums with pubs and cafes where students hang out until the wee hours. The Oude Markt (Old Market Square) is the drinking hub with several terrace cafes. Around the corner, Grote Markt (Great Market Square) - the site of the Gothic St Pieterskerk and its treasury - has even more drinking and eating options.

Back to top ^