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 The arcade:
access to the library is via the arcade, with its Gothic
ribbed vaulting. Here and elsewhere, on the pillars and walls,
are the many engraved names of American educational institutions
which contributed toward the construction costs of the library.
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The Inner
garden with its boxwood hedges, affords a modern
version of a renaissance garden. In the Tower
garden one
can look up to the tower, nearly 80 metres tall. Here,
too, is a remnant of the anti-German balustrade of 1928,
FURORE TEUTONICO… ("destroyed by German rage"),
which was deemed unacceptable and removed. |
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The grand
staircase: on the landing there is a bust of Herbert
Hoover (1874-1964), president of the United States and,
during the First World War, chairman of the Commission
for the Relief of Belgium. Later he played an important
role in bringing the new library building to completion.
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The upper
hall (1st
floor): its contents include a Sedes sapientiae in red
copper by Jacques Moeschal (1913); a bronze commemorative
plaque
by Harry Elstrøm, honouring mgr. Etienne van Cauwenbergh,
head librarian from 1919 to 1961, who twice had to rebuild
and restock his library from scratch; a bust (by Jules
Lagae, 1862-1931) of Emile Franqui (1863-1935), banker,
noted free-thinker and benefactor of Leuven’s university;
the statue of an angel by Elstrøm, intended for
the Koekelberg basilica in Brussels. There are also paintings
by Albert Ciamberlani (1864-1956) and designs for the
arcade mosaics in the Brussels Centenaire palace celebrating
the heroes of the First World War. In the corridor leading
to the tabularium there is a series of thirteen pastels
on the theme of life and death by the Leuven artist Piet
Gilles (1908-1995).
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The main
readingroom: redesigned in 1950-51 by architect
Henry Lacoste (1885-1968), the room is thirteen metres
wide and 44 metres long. Oak has been used throughout.
There is a two-tiered gallery and shelf-space for 40,000
volumes. The balustrade can double as a reading-desk.
Jacques Moeschal (°1913) carved the balusters and
rosettes, the crucifix and the two staircase figures:
on the left a lion grasps a serpent’s tail in its
paws, while the figure on the right is an eagle. Only
two panels, representing a chemistry student and an architect,
have been finished. In the adjacent bibliographic room
figures a portrait of cardinal Mercier painted by Albert
Besnard.
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The upper
stairway: under the twenty-metre high stellar
vault can be found a renaissance spiral staircase in the
corner, a Belgian lion on the landing and also a recent
donation: a gilded 18th century Burmese Buddha. |
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The hall (2nd
floor): here fragments of ecclesiastic furnishings form
part of the decor: a heavy Baroque door-frame, twisted
columns, Louis XVI bannisters. Also to be seen are a late
16th century crucifiction, a Leuven 18th century grandfather
clock, a Liège Rococo chest, as well as statues
by Harry Elstrøm: St. Bernard, dom Robert de Kerckhove
of Keizersberg abbey and the four evangelists from the
Koekelberg basilica.
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The East-Asian
library: contains mainly publications from and
about Japan, China and Korea and concerning the relations
with Europe, on various social and cultural topics.
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The Tabularium:
the common reading-room and appropriate reference library
of the Department of Valuable Works and the University Archives. |
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Accessible only for groups, on appointment
or on special occasions: |
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The Valerius Andreas room: here are selected precious items
from the Central Library’s collection: manuscripts,
incunabula, atlases, richly bound books, archivalia. One
can find letters of Erasmus, Vesalius' manual on anatomy,
the Utopia of Thomas More.
In 1636 Valerius Andreas was appointed to be the first
University chief librarian.
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The Museum of flemish student life: student life and student
movements of the 19th and 20th centuries are illustrated
by caps and ribbons, banners and pamphlets. There is even
a paving-stone from the student 'revolt' which
called for an all-Flemish university in Leuven, resulting
in the university’s being split in two. The museum
had its origins in the private collection of dr. Mon de
Goeyse.
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The Spoelberch
chamber:
formerly the office of the head librarian, it contains a
baroque mantelpiece, portraits and porcelain from the de
Spoelberch collection, and is now used for receptions. |
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