JOYCEAN PICS 2011
Leuven: miscellanea
Contents of This Page


  Bar del Sol
  Hotel New Damshire
  Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter (Saint Peter's Church)
  Stadhuis (The Town Hall of Leuven)
  Cafe Marie-Therese
  Leuven Railway Station
  Los Flamencos, a Spanish restaurant
  Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel)
  Sint-Michielskerk (Saint Michael's Church)
  Belgium's National Day
  Buddha Shop
  Tango in Tiensestraat
  Namaste Restaurant, an Indian restaurant
CONTENTS 2011
   1  Leuven IASIL 2011@Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
   2  Leuven (Fr. Louvain/Ger. Lowen): miscellanea
   3  Brussels (Fr. Bruxelles/ Ger. Brussel) (Mid-/Post-Conference Tour)
   4  Antwerp (Du. Antwerpen/ Fr. Anvers) (Post-Conference Tour)
   5  Ypres (Du. Ieper), West Flanders (Post-Conference Tour)
   6  Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing (Post-Conference Tour)
   7  Dublin (Ir. Baile Atha Cliath) and Joyce
   8  Dublin (Ir. Baile Atha Cliath): miscellanea
   9  Urlingford (Ir. Ath na nUrlainn), County Kilkenny
  10  Cashel (Ir. Caiseal), South Tipperary
  11  Amsterdam (I amsterdam)
  12  Den Haag/'s-Gravenhage (Eng. The Hague)

Leuven: miscellanea


Saturday 16th - Monday 25th July 2011



  Leuven ([Dutch]; French: Louvain; often used in English, German: Lowen) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium.  It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.  The township comprises the historical city of Leuven and the former municipalities of Heverlee, Kessel-Lo, a part of Korbeek-Lo, Wilsele and Wijgmaal.  It is home to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer group and one of the top five largest consumer goods companies in the world; and to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the largest and oldest university of the Low Countries and the oldest Catholic university still in existence.  It has an area of 56.63 sq km and its population is 95,463 (1 January 2010).
  Nowadays Leuven is a real "student city", as during the academic year most citizens in its centre are students.  Leuven sports one of the liveliest bar scenes in Belgium.  Besides boasting the "longest bar" in Belgium, the Old Market, dozens of bars and cafes crammed into a central square in Leuven, it's also the proud home city of Belgium's smallest bar, Onder den Toog in the Noormannenstraat.  Given the presence of the KULeuven, an important European institution for academic research and education, much of the local economy is concentrated on spin-offs from academic research.  There are several biotech and ICT companies; Gasthuisberg, the academic hospital and research center and a large number of private service providers in the medical and legal field.  
  
  The earliest mention of Leuven ("Loven") is from 891 when a Viking army was defeated by the Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia.  According to the city legend, its red-white-red colours depict the blood-stained shores of the river Dijle after this battle.  Situated at this river and nearby the stronghold of the Dukes of Brabant, Leuven became the most important centre of trade in the duchy between the 11th and the 14th century.  A token of its former importance as a centre of cloth manufacture, is nicely reflected in the typical Leuven linen cloth, known in late 14-15th century texts as lewyn (other spellings: Leuwyn, Levyne, Lewan(e), Lovanium, Louvain).  In the 15th century a new golden era began with the founding of the by now largest and oldest university in the Low Countries, the Catholic University of Leuven, in 1425.  In the 18th century Leuven became even more important as a result of the flourishing of the brewery now named AB InBev, and whose flagship beer, Stella Artois, is brewed in Leuven.  In the 20th century, both world wars inflicted major damage to the city.  Upon German entry in World War I, the town was heavily damaged due to German Schrecklichkeit policy.  The Germans shot the burgomaster, university rector and all the city's police officers.  The university library was deliberately destroyed by the German army on August 25, 1914, using petrol and incendiary pastilles.  Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts were lost.  The world was outraged over this and the library was completely rebuilt after World War I with American charity funds and German war indemnities.  After World War II, the burnt down building had to be restored again. It still stands as a symbol of the wars and of Allied solidarity.  (Extracted and edited from the site of "Wikipedia")

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Bar del Sol
      Bar del Sol, Schapenstraat 105, Leuven, Belgium is the first pub restaurant I went in Leuven.  I met a group of Vietnamese students studying at the engineering school of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  We spent a very good time here.
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 (Saturday 16 July) Bar del Sol, Schapenstraat 105, Leuven
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 (Saturday 16 July) My dinner (Crepe [CR SPEK/CHAMP/KAAS, 6 euros] and a Belgian dark beer [Gouden Carolus, 3.2 euros]) at Bar del Sol, Schapenstraat 105, Leuven
  
  
   
Hotel New Damshire
      Hotel New Damshire is located at Schapenstraat 1 (Pater Damiaanplein) 3000 Leuven Belgium: 2 minutes' walk from the Irish College or The Leuven Centre for Irish Studies (LCIS) of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Hotel New Damshire, Schapenstraat 1 (Pater Damiaanplein) 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter
      Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter or Saint Peter's Church (Dutch: Sint-Pieterskerk) of Leuven, Belgium, is situated on the city's Grote Markt (main market square), right across the ornate Town Hall.  Built mainly in the 15th century in Brabantine Gothic style, the church has a cruciform floor plan and a low bell tower that has never been completed.  
  The first church on the site, made of wood and presumably founded in 986, burned down in 1176.  It was replaced by a Romanesque church, made of stone, featuring a west end flanked by two round towers like at Our Lady's Basilica in Maastricht.  Of the Romanesque building only part of the crypt remains, underneath the chancel of the actual church.  
  Construction of the present Gothic edifice, significantly larger than its predecessor, was begun approximately in 1425, and was continued for more than half a century in a remarkably uniform style, replacing the older church progressively from east (chancel) to west.  Its construction period overlapped with that of the Town Hall across the Markt, and in the earlier decades of construction shared the same succession of architects as its civic neighbor:  Sulpitius van Vorst to start with, followed by Jan II Keldermans and later on Matheus de Layens.  In 1497 the building was practically complete, although modifications, especially at the west end, continued.
  In 1458, a fire struck the old Romanesque towers that still flanked the west end of the uncompleted building.  The first arrangements for a new tower complex followed quickly, but were never realized.  Then, in 1505, Joost Matsys (brother of painter Quentin Matsys) forged an ambitious plan to erect three colossal towers of freestone surmounted by openwork spires, which would have had a grand effect, as the central spire would rise up to about 170 m, making it the world's tallest structure at the time.  Insufficient ground stability and funds proved this plan impracticable, as the central tower reached less than a third of its intended height before the project was abandoned in 1541.   After the height was further reduced by partial collapses from 1570 to 1604, the main tower now rises barely above the church roof; at its sides are mere stubs.  The architect had, however, made a maquette of the original design, which is preserved in the southern transept.  
  Despite their incomplete status, the towers are mentioned on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France.  Chancel and south transept, viewed from the market square
  The church suffered severe damage in both World Wars.  In 1914 a fire caused the collapse of the roof and in 1944 a bomb destroyed part of the northern side.
  The reconstructed roof is surmounted at the crossing by a fleche, which, unlike the 18th-century cupola that preceded it, blends stylistically with the rest of the church.  
  A very late (1998) addition is the jacquemart, or golden automaton, which periodically rings a bell near the clock on the gable of the southern transept, above the main southern entrance door.  
  Despite the devastation during the World Wars, the church remains rich in works of art.  The chancel and ambulatory were turned into a museum in 1998, where visitors can view a collection of sculptures, paintings and metalwork.
  Outstanding are two paintings by the Flemish Primitive Dirk Bouts, the Last Supper (1464-1468) and the Martyrdom of St Erasmus (1465).  The street leading towards the west end of the church is named after the artist.  The Nazis seized The Last Supper in 1942.  Panels from the painting had been sold legitimately to German museums in the 1800s, and Germany was forced to return all the panels as part of the required reparations of the Versailles Treaty after World War I.  
  An elaborate stone tabernacle (1450), in the form of a hexagonal tower, soars amidst a bunch of crocketed pinnacles to a height of 12.5 meters.  A creation of the architect de Layens (1450), it is an example of what is called in Dutch a sacramentstoren, or in German a Sakramentshaus, on which artists lavished more pains than on almost any other artwork.  
  In side chapels are the tombs of Duke Henry I of Brabant (d. 1235), his wife Matilda (d. 1211) and their daughter Marie (d. 1260).  Godfrey II of Leuven is also buried in the church.
  A large and elaborate oak pulpit, which is transferred from the abbey church of Ninove, is carved with a life-size representation of Norbert of Xanten falling from a horse.  
  One of the oldest objects in the art collection is a 12th-century wooden head, being the only remainder of a crucifix burnt in World War I.  
  There is also Nicolaas de Bruyne's 1442 sculpture of the Madonna and Child enthroned on the seat of wisdom (Sedes Sapientiae).  The theme is still used today as the emblem of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  (Extracted from the site of "Wikipedia")
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Monday 18 July) Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
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 (Wednesday 20 July) Me with Prof. Kazuhiro Doki and his son Ryosuke in front of Schatkamer van Sint-Pieter, Grote Markt, Grand-Place 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Stadhuis
      Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, is a landmark building on that city's Grote Markt (Main Market) square, across from the monumental St. Peter's Church.  Built in a Brabantine Late Gothic style between 1448 and 1469, it is famous for its ornate architecture, crafted in lace-like detail.  
  The Town Hall has three main stories, lined with pointed Gothic windows on the three sides visible from the Markt.  Above is a gallery parapet, behind which rises a steep roof studded with four tiers of dormers. At the angles of the roof are octagonal turrets pierced with slits allowing for the passage of light.
  Statues in canopied niches are distributed all over the building.  The corbels supporting the statues are carved with Biblical scenes in high relief.  While the niches and corbels are original with the building, the 236 statues themselves are relatively recent, dating from after 1850.  Those of the first floor represent personages of importance in the local history of the city; those of the second, patron saints and symbolic figures; those of the third, the Counts of Leuven and Dukes of Brabant from various ages.
  The main facade has an entrance staircase, and two portals in the center, above which are figures of Saint Peter (left) and Madonna and Child (right), the former in compliment to the patron of the church opposite.
  The interior accommodates an interesting collection of artwork, including sculptures by Constantin Meunier and Jef Lambeaux.  Inside can also be seen the portraits of the Leuven mayors since 1794.  
  The building today known as the Town Hall was the Voirste Huys (front house) of a larger complex of municipal buildings on which construction started in 1439 at the site of an existing town hall.  The first architect, Sulpitius Van Vorst, died soon after the back wings of the complex got started and was succeeded briefly by Jan Keldermans II, whose death in 1445 ended the first construction campaign.  
  The project resumed in 1448 under the direction of Matheus de Layens.  The first stone of the Voirste Huys was laid on 28 March of that year.  The cellars of some demolished houses were incorporated into the new construction and can today be accessed through a small door at the left side of the Town Hall.  The initial plans, influenced by the town hall at Brussels, included a belfry tower at one of the corners.  This design was modified by de Layens, resulting in the symmetrical arrangement of turrets observed today.  
  The exterior masonry and roof were finished in 1460, and in 1469 the building was complete.  
  In the 19th century, the Town Hall underwent renovations made necessary by centuries' worth of decay.  The building remained standing amid the devastation of Leuven during World War I, escaping with only minor damage.  In the Second World War, a bomb strike in front of the building caused yet more damage; it took until 1983 before repairs were completed.  (Extracted from the site of "Wikipedia")
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Stadhuis or The Town Hall of Leuven, Grote Markt 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Cafe Marie-Therese
      Cafe Marie-Therese is located in front of Leuven Railway Station at Martelarenplein 1 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) Cafe Marie-Therese, Martelarenplein 1 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 17 July) My lunch at Cafe Marie-Therese, Martelarenplein 1 3000 Leuven
  
      
Leuven Railway Station
  
   The railway station in Leuven is 1 km from the city centre.
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 (Sunday 17 July) The monument in front of Leuven Railway Station
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 (Sunday 17 July) Leuven Railway Station
  
  
   
Los Flamencos
      Los Flamencos, a Spanish restaurant, Naamsestraat 19 3000 Leuven
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 (Tuesday 19 July) Los Flamencos, a Spanish restaurant, Naamsestraat 19 3000 Leuven: (from left to right) Yi-ling Yang (National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan), Yi-peng Lai (Queen's University, Belfast) and Eishiro Ito (Iwate Prefectural University, Japan).  Photo by Yu-chen Lin (National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan)
  
  
   
Sint-Antoniuskapel
      Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel) is located at Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven: From the 17th to the 20th centuries, it contains the tomb of Father Damien, the "leper priest" of Molokai, beatified by Pope John Paul II.  The Catholic priest's remains were returned in Belgium with great fanfare in 1936 after having been originally buried on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai where he had served the outcast lepers and died.  
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Antoniuskapel (Saint Anthony's Chapel), Pater Damiaanplein 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Sint-Michielskerk
      Sint-Michielskerk (Saint Michael's Church), Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven.  The Church of Saint Michael was built in the typical Jesuit Baroque Style.
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 (Thursday 21 July) Sint-Michielskerk (Saint Michael's Church), Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Belgium's National Day
  
   Belgium's National Day is set on 21 July.  It was on 21 July 1831 that Leopold of Saxe-Coburg swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution and took the constitutional oath as the first King of Belgium.
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 (Thursday 21 July) Belgium's National Day: The military parade in Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Belgium's National Day: The military parade in Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Belgium's National Day: The military parade in Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Thursday 21 July) Belgium's National Day: The military parade in Naamsestraat 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Buddha Shop
  
   Buddha Shop, Tiensestraat 31 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) Buddha Shop, Tiensestraat 31 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Tango in Tiensestraat
  
   Street tango in Tiensestraat, Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) Street tango dancers, Tiensestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) Street tango dancers, Tiensestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) Street tango dancers, Tiensestraat 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) Street tango dancers, Tiensestraat 3000 Leuven
  
  
   
Namaste Restaurant
  
   Namaste Restaurant is situated at Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven is recognized as one of the best restaurant for typical Nepalese and Indian Cuisine in the area.
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 (Sunday 24 July) Namaste Restaurant, Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) My dinner at Namaste Restaurant, Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) My dinner at Namaste Restaurant, Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) My dinner at Namaste Restaurant, Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven
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 (Sunday 24 July) My dinner at Namaste Restaurant, Naamsestraat 25, 3000 Leuven




        


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