University Library

The Central Library

As libraries go, the university library in Leuven has had an unusually turbulent history. Its beginnings, however, were normal enough. Established in 1636, it found its first home in the main University Hall on the Naamsestraat. Less than a century later, about 1725, it moved to its own separate wing of the University Hall building, where it had a magnificent late baroque reading-room facing the Old Market Square (Oude Markt).

In August of 1914 German troops set fire to the library building and to much of the city of Leuven. The destruction of the library aroused international indignation. Before the First World War had even ended, committees were formed in both Allied and neutral countries to collect money and books for the reconstruction of Leuven’s university library. The Americans took charge of building a new home for the library. As for Germany, it was required by Article 247 of the Treaty of Versailles to donate thirteen million marks’ worth of books in reparation. Books came pouring in in such numbers that by 1939 there were some 900,000 volumes on the shelves of the reconstructed library.

A new site was chosen for the library - the square called Mgr. Ladeuzeplein, and here the new building arose from 1921 to 1928. It was designed by the American architect Whitney Warren (1864-1943) in the style known as Flemish neo-renaissance. The library is still the most impressive university structure in Leuven.

From the outset the building was conceived as a monument, and has been classified as such since 1987. Its interior is also on the classified list. Its style is historicising and its decorative scheme is rich in iconography. Its recurrent decorative themes include: Belgian patriotism (busts of Cardinal Mercier, King Albert and Queen Elisabeth; wall-irons in the form of their monograms), the Allied victory (heraldic flora and fauna including the Japanese dragon and the English unicorn on the lateral facades; Our Lady of Victory, the famous helmeted Madonna who is piercing the head of the Prussian eagle with her sword) and American friendship (136 engraved stones, the American eagle, 48 bells (increased to 63 in 1983) in the belfry for the 48 states and 48 gilded stars on the tower clock’s faces). Thus, the building constitutes a war memorial, recalling the German terror of the First World War and Allied solidarity in the reconstruction years. As early as the 1930’s the new library attracted thousands of tourists and received visits from hundreds of emissaries from every part of the globe.

In 1940 when the Wehrmacht occupied Leuven, the library and its contents went up in flames once again. After the war the burnt-out shell was restored and the interior was somewhat modified. As the Central Library of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, it now houses more than a million volumes.

A visitor's guide

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.

The inner gardens – The southern garden, with its boxwood hedges, affords a modern version of a renaissance garden. Inside the northern 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.

The grand staircase – The stairs are of unpolished marble. 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.

The upper hall – 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).

The catalogue room - The heart of the library. The card catalogue represents the holding of books before the splitting of the unitarian university into K.U.Leuven / U.C.L. Via the multifunctional workstations readers have access to the automated catalogue (LIBIS) or several CD-ROM-databases or Internet.

The main reading-room – 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.

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.

The hall outside the East-Asian Library – 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.

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.

The Tabularium – The common reading-room and appropriate reference library of the Department of Valuable Works and the University Archives.

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.

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.

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.

See also: The Library through the Years