"Leuven / Louvain (Flemish Brabant)" Leuven by johnmperry

This has to be the most elaborately and exhuberantly decorated public building, anywhere in the world. It has intricately carved statues absolutely everywhere on its main façade.

The Butchers' Hall

On the same square as the Town Hall is this equally imposing building. It amply demonstrates the wealth of the medieval guilds, in this case butchers, but it could have been any other trade.

There are two Beguinages in Louvain. The larger is still laid out as before, although there is no trace of original development, apart, maybe, from some of the back walls along the river Dijl. It was extended by the Spanish. [see my page on Beguines & beguinages]

The University Library

The history of the university library, in fact of the university itself is full of irony. Louvain is the home of Erasmus, who was a pre-eminent Humanist. (However his most famous work is Praise of Folly, so maybe the irony is fitting.)

Louvain University was founded in 1425, and for more than five centuries was the most important university in Belgium and one of the world's leading Catholic institutions. However in the 1960's the pro-flemish language groups demanded separation, so eventually the university was split into two: the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL).

And the library? Well all the books were destroyed in the first world war. It was rebuilt and restocked in the 1930's, then all the books were destroyed again during the second world war. It was restocked again, with great American help. When the university split into two, the books were divided by accession number, with even numbers going one way and odd numbers the other! (About as sensible as anything else to do with religion!)

• In a nutshell:Another hot day, another neat and sparkling Flemish town.