Leuven (French: Louvain) is a city and municipality in the
Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. It is the capital of this
province and also the capital of the administrative and judicial
district of Leuven. Leuven has an area of 5,751 ha and has a
population of over 102,000 inhabitants (March 2020).
Leuven
is located on the Dijle and is known as the seat of the Catholic
University of Leuven , the oldest university in the Low Countries ,
the multinational Anheuser-Busch InBev (historic Brewery Artois ,
later also called Interbrew and InBev), the Boerenbond and the
university hospital Gasthuisberg . Several KU Leuven spin-offs, such
as IMEC or Materialize , are also located in the city. Saint Peter
is the patron saint of Leuven.
The toponym
Leuven is first found in the Annales Vedastini in the year 884 as
Luuanium (Luvanium). Also, Regino Prüm indicate in its world
chronicle in loco qui dicitur Lovön when he discusses the events 884
and 886. The current spelling came into use from the sixteenth
century.
There are several theories as to the origin of the
name: one claims that the name rises to the prehistoric language
spoken in the region before Germanization (second century BC). In
line with Caesar, this language may be called 'Belgian'. In
'Belgian', settlement names were usually derived from personal names
using the suffix -iom . Leuven is a good example of this. The name
ascends to Lubaniom, which is derived from the personal name
Lubanios which means "the beloved". This in turn is derived from the
Indo-European root leubh- , "to love".
Other, older
explanations, such as that the name would derive from the Levaci
mentioned by Julius Caesar or from the name of the legendary
Scottish prince Lupus, who is said to have founded the city, are no
longer considered a possibility. Some authors sought an explanation
in the Leuven slogan Altyd Praise God . In Leuven, according to this
view, during Antiquity, a Marempel would have stood. On the other
hand, according to the nineteenth-century view of Edward Van Even ,
Leuven came from two Germanic words: lo (forest) and ven (peat). For
example, Leuven would mean 'swamp in the forest', which immediately
describes the place where the city was established. Maurits
Gysselingfinally suggested that the name comes from the primordial
Germanic , where lubanja- means 'the beloved'.
Leuven has several places of interest:
The Town Hall
The big
market
Martyrs' Square
The Collegiate Church of St. Peter in
Brabant High Gothic (1425-c. 1500)
The Round Table, the third (neo)
Gothic building on the Grote Markt
Het Fonske, a statue at St.
Peter's Church
The Proud Margriet (a statue)
The Cloth Hall
(1317-1345)
Several colleges from different eras, including the
Pope's College (1523, 1786-1788), the Arras College, the American
College, the Collegium Trilingue, the Van Dale College, the
Koningscollege, the Sint-Anna College, the Villers College, the College
of Premonstreit, the Dutch College, the Irish College, the Holy Spirit
College, the Liège College, the Divaeus College, the Sint-Ivo College,
the Luxembourg College, the Hogenheuvel College, the Viglius College,
the Justus Lipsius College and Pedagogy De Valk
Saint Michael's
Church (1650-1666)
The high-Gothic St. Quinten's Church
The late
Gothic Saint Anthony's Chapel, with tomb crypt of Father Damiaan
The
University Library (1921-1929) on Ladeuzeplein
The Church of Our Lady
of the Preachers
The Church of St. James
The Great Beguinage
The Little Beguinage
The Municipal Theatre
The Arenberg Castle
The Hortus Botanicus Lovaniensis, better known as the Botanical Garden
The city library Tweebron, old Technical School RITO and
Wittevrouwenklooster
St. Gertrude's Church
Keizersberg Abbey
The Old Market
The station
Park . Abbey
The Saint Donatus Park
The M - Museum designed by architect Stéphane Beel
The Monarkengrave
and ringwal hill
The Bondgenotenlaan and the Diestsestraat
Numerous religious (including churches) and profane buildings
The
Lost Cost Tower
Museums
On Sunday 20 September 2009, the
Belgian princess Mathilde and the Dutch princess Máxima opened the M -
Museum in the center of Leuven. The museum has a total area of 13,500
square meters and its own collection of approximately 46,000 works.
The nicknames of the inhabitants of Leuven are Pietermannen and
Koeienschieters. The first name refers to the inhabitants of the oldest
parish (Sint-Pieter) and the second name refers to the historical fact
of 1691 when the inhabitants of Leuven opened fire on suspicious figures
one night. The people of Leuven were besieged by the French at that time
and were under the impression that they were shooting at enemy soldiers.
The next morning, however, it turned out that they had shot at a herd of
cows.
The city itself was derisively referred to as Tobbackgrad,
Tobbackville, or Louisville by some of its residents. This referred to
Louis Tobback's years of mayorship. The Flemish press invented the
nickname Mo-town for his successor, Mohamed Ridouani.
Because of
the centuries-long presence of both the Artois brewery and the student
life, Leuven is also called the beer capital of Flanders/Belgium.
Leuven is only 25 km from Brussels, 45 km from the cities of Antwerp
and Namur, and 65 km from the city of Liège. Other nearby cities are
Mechelen, Vilvoorde, Tienen, Diest and Aarschot. Leuven is also one of
the hilliest cities in Flanders.
Since January 1, 1977, Leuven
consists of the following sub-municipalities: Heverlee, Leuven,
Kessel-Lo and Wilsele. The residential core of Wijgmaal was taken over
from Herent, and parts of the former municipalities of Korbeek-Lo
("Leuvens Korbeek-Lo") and Haasrode were also added to Leuven.
Symbols
Flag
The Leuven flag consists of three horizontal
bands: red, white and red. Legend has it that this refers to the battle
against the Vikings in 891. Arnulf of Carinthia then inflicted a
crushing defeat on the Vikings. During the battle so much blood is said
to have been spilled that the two banks of the Dijle turned red (the two
red bands), between which the Dijle flowed (the white band). In reality,
the Leuven flag bears the colors of Lower Lorraine and is heraldically
no older than the thirteenth century. The flag is very similar to the
Austrian flag, which has the same origin.
weapon spell
The
motto of Leuven is: "Praise above, always praise God."
Going out
Leuven is nationally known for its nightlife. There are many places to
go out in the city, mainly cafes. The Oude Markt in Leuven is also known
as The Longest Bar of Europe, because of its succession of pubs.
Thursday evening (due to student life), Friday evening and Saturday
evening are the busiest times of night. The Muntstraat presents itself
as the culinary heart of the city. The street, which seems to be
dominated by Italian restaurants, has also gradually found a second
breath after a thorough refurbishment. Leuven also had a few cafes
especially for LGBs, of which in 2018 only a cafe under the Holebihuis
Vlaams-Brabant is left.
Events
Several annual events are
organized in Leuven, including:
Africa Film Festival (April-May)
World Festival (late May or early June)
The Twelve Weeks of Saint
Michael: multidisciplinary cultural event in Saint Michael's Church
(April to June)
Docville: international festival dedicated to
documentary film (beginning of May)
Terrace films: free open-air film
festival, projections on two large screens in the STUK (June)
Beleuvenissen: free music festival with (inter)national artists, three
Fridays long on three squares in the city
Flanders Sings:
congregational singing spectacle on the last Saturday of July
Half
Oogst (formerly Marktrock): annual free music festival in the city
center (mid August)
Hapje-Tapje: food and drink festival in the
center of Leuven (Grote Markt, Oude Markt, Muntstraat, 's Meiersstraat,
Hogeschoolplein, Naamsestraat ...) (annually, first Sunday of August)
Meyboom planting: every year on August 9, the Leuven Meyboom (in
competition with Brussels) is planted on the Grote Markt.
Festival of
the Years, with the Abraham celebration, the Procession of the Years and
the Arthur Dewit Children's Day (beginning of September)
Leuven Fair
(three weeks in September)
Annual market on the first Monday of
Leuven Fair
GP Jef Scherens: annual cycling race to be held at the
beginning of September
Athletics meeting for Mon: athletics
competition
LGB Film Festival (November)
End-of-year corridor:
street run (end of December)
Leuven International Short Film Festival
(early December)
Leuven in Scene (Whitsun weekend)
Easter
festivities Leuven: folklore festival with international groups, during
the Easter weekend
Music For Life: benefit action of Studio Brussel
on Martelarenplein; took place in 2006 and 2007 around the end of
December
Kulturama: Leuven cultural heyday (in February)
Job fair
of Vlaamse Technische Kring: the largest engineering fair in the Benelux
and one of the largest job fairs in Belgium (March)