Leuven Wall Art
56 creative works found
-
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. From 1999 to 2003 the tower, the roofs and the outer walls underwent a meticulous restoration.
-
Park Abbey
by theBFGthe old abbey in Heverlee (Leuven, Belgium) bathing in a wonderfull winter sunset.
-
description: the early 16th century castle in the belgian village of Heverlee (now part of Leuven, belgium). The style of the building is essentially a transitional style between gothic and renaissance but it also features a number of later additions such as the neo-gothic chapel. If you look carefully, you can just about make out the golden imperial eagles that top the towers. These are a reminder of the german origins of the last lords of Arenberg. The castle was given to the university of leuven in the early 20th century and now houses part of the university. The watermill in the foreground dates from the 16th century. It is now used as part of the university libraries.
-
A detail shot taken in the main church in the Belgian city of Leuven. A large, late gothic structure who’s choir has been turned into a museum and offers a nice opertunity to tak e photographs without all the regular church furniture and ugly modern lighting and similar junk in the way. This building is a nice example of the typical Brabantine gothic style that became popular in the late middle ages in what is now the Dutch/Belgian border region.
-
A little peek at the river Dijle flowing through the beguinage in the Belgian city of Leuven. It’s a very pretty place, but it’s insanely rare to get the light just right for taking nice potographs when the sun is out. luckely this was such a time :)
-
An image of the world famous city hall in the Belgian city of Leuven. Not surprisingly it has been photographed to death ever since camera’s became popular. I thought i’d give it a shot as well and try to take a photograph that showed the building as best as possible. So no people in the foreground and the sunlight as close to the front gable as possible. The low evening light emphasizing the honey coloured natural stone from which it is built. The building itself was built in a brabantine late gothic style between 1448 and 1469 and originally was supposed to have a belfry. The building of this belfry was cancelled when the construction has already started. In order to create a more balanced design that incorporates the half built belfry, the current design, with its six turrets was chosen. The statues adorning the building are all from the 19th century. Originally the niches would have been empty.
-
This is one of the picturesque alley behind the Groot Behuinage in Leuven.
-
A “Begijnhof” (as the Dutch name is) or Béguinage comprises a courtyard surrounded by small dwellings. It is often encircled by a wall and secluded from the town proper by one or two gates. Poor and elderly beguines were housed here by benefactors. Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North-Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North-Western Germany. The beguines were a religious women’s movement. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors. Similarly, nuns’ convents in the twelfth century enjoyed substantial initial success. Stricter rules within Cistercian and other abbeys, however, caused many women to seek less strict surroundings. Moreover, these abbeys’ initial success necessitated the refusal of a great many applications for admission. As an additional obstacle, in several cases a certain degree of prosperity was required as a condition for admission to a regular nunnery.
-
A “Begijnhof” (as the Dutch name is) or Béguinage comprises a courtyard surrounded by small dwellings. It is often encircled by a wall and secluded from the town proper by one or two gates. Poor and elderly beguines were housed here by benefactors. Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North-Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North-Western Germany. The beguines were a religious women’s movement. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors. Similarly, nuns’ convents in the twelfth century enjoyed substantial initial success. Stricter rules within Cistercian and other abbeys, however, caused many women to seek less strict surroundings. Moreover, these abbeys’ initial success necessitated the refusal of a great many applications for admission. As an additional obstacle, in several cases a certain degree of prosperity was required as a condition for admission to a regular nunnery.
-
Arenberg Castle, situated in Heverlee close to Leuven in Belgium, is a 16th century castle built by Antoon van Croy on the site of a 12th century castle, of which he destroyed all but one tower. Construction of the modern castle was completed in 1515. The castle, which is surrounded by the Arenberg park, is now the property of the Catholic University of Leuven and is open to the public. The park surrounding the castle is one of the main campuses of the University, providing facilities for most of the exact sciences. The castle itself is the seat of the Faculty of Engineering. The first manned gas-filled balloon flight in history took off from the front lawn of the castle; the balloonist was professor Jan Pieter Minckeleers.
-
The Town Hall (Dutch: Stadhuis) 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 (Dutch: Stadhuis) 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.
-
A “Begijnhof” (as the Dutch name is) or Béguinage comprises a courtyard surrounded by small dwellings. It is often encircled by a wall and secluded from the town proper by one or two gates. Poor and elderly beguines were housed here by benefactors. Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North-Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North-Western Germany. The beguines were a religious women’s movement. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors. Similarly, nuns’ convents in the twelfth century enjoyed substantial initial success. Stricter rules within Cistercian and other abbeys, however, caused many women to seek less strict surroundings. Moreover, these abbeys’ initial success necessitated the refusal of a great many applications for admission. As an additional obstacle, in several cases a certain degree of prosperity was required as a condition for admission to a regular nunnery. (Source Wikipedia)
-
Ladeuze plein is a square in the center of Leuven – nice medieval university town in Belgium, about 15 km east from Brussels. The building on the photo is University library.
-
Did you know there are 236 statues in the niches of the Town Hall of Leuven? My photograph only presents four of them… October 2002. Canon EOS 500N, Sigma 28-135. Post-processing: distortion correction, crop, watercolor, colorization.
-
A view of the st Peters church in Leuven, Belgium Construction of this large gothic church was begun in roughly 1425, and for more than half a century was continued in a remarkably uniform style, replacing the older church progressively from east (chancel) to west. Its construction period overlapped 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 at first, followed by Jan II Keldermans and then 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 in-progress building. The first arrangements for a new tower complex came shortly thereafter, 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 steeple would have been approximately 170 m high, 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 following 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, now preserved inside the southern transept. The church, despite its incomplete state, is still one of the best and purest examples of the Brabantine Gothic style. This photograph shows one of the side isles that flank the nave at each side, showing the succession of little chapels from the west end towards the transept and choir ambulatory.
-
This is a view of the train station in the Belgian city of Leuven. It is the 5th busiest station and receives about 26.000 travelers a day. The main building (nearly invisible here) was built at the end of the 19th century in a wild eclectic style that combines numerous antique building styles. The main feature here is the train shed which was built in 2000 CE when the platforms were altered to receive high speed trains. The round, domed shapes mean to resemble a large sheet billowing in the wind. Photographed on my way to Namur for the first Beautifull Belgium Bubblemeet.
-
An impression of the Beguinage in the Belgian city of Leuven. A beguinage was a community of unmarried woman who took several semi-religious vows (chastity and humility) but notably no vow of poverty. Their vows also did not last a lifetime and they could leave the beguinage whenever they wanted. They lived together in semi-closed neighbourhoods outside the town walls or at least outside the centre of town. They had their own houses (or shared a larger house among several women) and made a living by handwork or sometimes aquired some fortune by trading. Their origins are not entirely clear. Perhaps they originated as a protest against the openly frivolous lifestyle of medieval clergy. Another hypothesis links their origins to a lack of men due to the crusades and the wars that plagued the Europe of the high Middle Ages. Whatever their origins, they eventually developed into succesfull independant comunities.
-
Late summer, the leaves begin to turn, It’s still warm you can lay in the grass and see the reflection of the great sky in the almost perfect mirror of the pond. The picture is taken in late September 2009 in Kessel Lo’s Provinciaal domain , community of Leuven (Belgium).
RedBubble is a great place to find art, design, photos and writing from over 80,000 talented people.
You can buy their stuff
On stunning greeting cards, awesome t-shirts or beautiful prints to hang on your walls.
Risk Free Returns
It’s really simple. If you’re not happy with your purchase for any reason, we’ll fix it.
About RedBubble
Since February 2007 we’ve shipped over 332,500 items to more than 70 countries around the world.
Join In
Sign up for your free account, upload your work, join some groups and share your creative genius with the world.