Leuven’s botanical garden provides all this superbly – but also casually. Because it is free of charge, open until 20.00 and only a 10-minute walk from the centre, locals just wander in and out, day and night, bringing drinks or books or MP3 players. Workers have a chat at the end of their day, students come to study. It’s like a meeting place in an oasis.
You might say this of Leuven in general, though that would sound a bit romanticised. But, as the capital of Flemish Brabant is about to launch a summer-of-romance campaign concurrent with a new exhibition at its award-winning museum (see sidebar), I’m going out on a limb: Leuven is not only a terribly romantic city, it’s so full of things to do that it easily provides for a three-day weekend – more if you venture to its castle-enveloped and bicycle-path-ridden outskirts.
Let’s just get the bad news out of the way early: Part of Leuven is under construction. Of course if you live in Flanders, this is so common, you’ve long ago ceased to be disappointed. And in fact – unlike projects in, say, Ghent and Turnhout – it’s fairly unobtrusive. Transport is still normal, and tourist attractions largely unimpacted. Works are not taking place, fortunately, on the Grote Markt (in front of the glorious City Hall) or on the Oude Markt (in front of the glorious bars).
But they are taking place in the Maarschalk Fochplein next to the Grote Markt, which means that the beloved Fonske is out of commission until work is complete in the autumn of 2012. Who is Fonske? I’m glad you asked.
Though only in place since 1975, Fonske is the symbol of Leuven – a fountain sculpture by Jef Claerhout of a little man pouring knowledge and wisdom from a cup into his open head. Not only does it signify Leuven’s main economy and claim to international fame – the university – it also beats the hell out of Manneken Pis.
The city’s other major sculpture might seem less humanitarian, but that’s certainly up to interpretation. Everyone has an opinion, in any case, on “Totem”, Jan Fabre’s astounding needle that pierces a giant beetle 23 metres in the air. In the square of the university library, smack in the middle of the city, it could be a sign of Fabre’s trademark cheekiness or it could be the desire to emphasise the more brutish side of science.
As photographed as these landmarks are, they don’t hold a candle to the number of shots taken of Leuven’s famous stadhuis, or city hall, a jaw-dropping example of Late Gothic architecture at its most flamboyant. With six turrets, an ornate parapet and a roof studded with dormers, the building is so intricately carved, it looks delicate, as if it was cut from lace. Leuven developed into a commercial centre in the 11th century, situated on the route between the Rhineland and Bruges, and this 15th-century city hall is its third. Sometimes referred to as “the Bible in stone”, it is carved with biblical scenes and boasts 236 statues, each mounted on its own niche.
Grab a brochure at the tourist office, which is located in the city hall on Naamsestraat, to identify some of the figures. On the bottom level you’ll find artists, scholars and other Leuven VIPs of yore, including Erasmus and Mercator. Further up are saints and representatives of municipal privileges. Higher still are dukes and counts of Leuven and Flemish Brabant.
Taking a tour of the city hall is the only way to get inside, where you’ll see the foyer, which was once an open-air area from which you reached municipal offices; the Gothic room, with its gorgeous hand-carved beams and paintings by Tournai artist Andre Hennebicq; and the Parlour, with Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen’s masterpiece “Moses is Introduced to Pharaoh’s Daughter”. There are two tours per day, but not always in English, so check ahead.
The architecture in Grote Markt is made more magnificent by the presence of Sint-Pieters Church. Built over 75 years in the 15th century, it replaces the city’s oldest church from 986, which burnt down in the 12th century. As you approach town from the train station, you see the back of the church with its seven magnificent apse chapels.
Inside is a nice little museum of religious relics, particularly a wooden head of Christ – all that’s left from an entire crucifixion sculpture destroyed in a fire during the First World War. Although it dates from the 12th century, it has a modern, almost Art Deco look. The museum is most famed, though for “The Last Supper” by Early Netherlandish painter Dirk Bouts, who was based in Leuven for the last 20 years of his life.
But this is a summer holiday, after all, so to the outside. In the south of Leuven’s city centre is the Groot (Large) Begijnhof, one of the most lovingly maintained communities of its kind. Begijnhoven were a series of connected homes and gardens that formed a kind of commune inside cities. You can find them across Flanders, and Leuven has two – the other, called the Klein (Small) Begijnhof – is on the other side of the city centre.
Begijnhoven were extremely unique – home to beguines, or women who were not nuns but devoted themselves to prayer and charity. They lived in a begijnhof but were not bound by vows of poverty. Some lived off their own money; others performed services like child care and sewing. Leuven’s Groot Begijnhof is now populated by university staff and students and is an idyllic area in which to walk around. On a recent sunny weekday, I was the only soul in sight.
Besides the botanical garden, Leuven sports a large park, home to palm trees. Yes, you read that right. They are kept in a greenhouse at the botanical garden most of the year, but in the summer, they are moved to Sint-Donatus Park, or “city park” to the locals. Those same locals also swear by the much smaller Dijle Park, on the banks of the Dijle River behind Leuven’s art centre STUK. With a lake and romantic bridge, young locals called it “paradise park”.
What I find paradise are the discoveries to be made in the Heverlee wood, just outside the centre along Kardinaal Mercierlaan. Winding paths go through the forest and along the river Dijle. Bridges offer nice vantage points for nature and university architecture. I happened upon a small, modern, glass-encased chapel and a little workspace called the boshut. Wouldn’t you just want to work in a tiny building called the forest hut?
Herverlee is perhaps the best example of Leuven’s special quality: a seamless integration of its famous university into every-day life. The city has been existing with Belgium’s oldest university for so long, it is part of the fabric. Buildings are scattered in every part of town, and gates are flung open to show inner courtyards; there’s nothing stopping you from poking around. Ask for a public toilet in the tourist office, and you will be directed down the street to a university building.
For a small city, Leuven is packed to the rafters with restaurants. The tourist office has a handy booklet, though they’re largely upscale. If you’re more of a downscale type, don’t miss De Werf, a clever little cafe at one end of the otherwise quiet, grassy Hogeschoolplein. The interior has the appearance of a do-it-yourselfer who gave up: Trowels and other tools are plastered to the rafters, while holes in the wall and gouges in the wooden tables go unfilled. The theme is continued in the sandwiches, which are whimsically delivered in Tupperware. But if you’re really hungry, you’re better off with one of the many hearty salads or pasta dishes. It’s veggie friendly, there’s a huge terrace out front, and prices are all under €10.
If your budget is a little bigger, try Kokoon just down the street, which is still considered a great value by Leuvenaars, with its modern, gastronomic take on fish and lamb. Kokoon is located just off the Muntstraat, Leuven’s own restaurant alley. Don’t worry, it’s not a tourist trap; locals eat here, too.
Leuven has 30,000 students in a city with a population of less than 100,000. In Flanders, this of course means that the bar to human ratio is impressive. In fact, Leuven has a square called Oude Markt, which the local Use-It tourist group calls the “Longest Bar in Europe”. That’s a slight exaggeration – there are brasseries here, too, and even a frietkot (which must do quite a business after midnight). But there are indeed more than 30 bars.
Every bar on the square sports a terrace, and if you sit there, it doesn’t matter which you choose, really, though the best beer selections can be found at 33 (also many whiskeys) and Den Bierkelder, which has been known to serve your drinking needs until 8.00.
Elsewhere, the quirky Bar de Sol, with a lovely terrace, is totally off the beaten path right outside the main entrance to the Begijnhof quarter. Toewip, near the station on Diestsestraat, is run by a man and his two twin daughters, Miranda and Mirella. You can’t tell them apart even before you start drinking.
Steamy and dreamy painters at Museum M this summer
That Leuven is a romantic city is unarguable – the city hall is enough to make one swoon. This
summer, the capital of Flemish Brabant is capitalising on that look by building a whole holiday
theme around the Museum M exhibition A Romantic View: The Rademakers Collection.
The group of 70 paintings come from the private collection of Dutch TV director and producer Jef Rademakers and was an enormous success last year in Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage. Because the best-known painters of the Romantic period of the 19th century are mostly French and British, it’s easy to assume that the once prolific low countries had run out of painters. Not so, as Museum M is about to show.
The Romantic period was marked by painting that focused on daily life, pastoral labour and domestic concerns. Flemish master of the genre Basile de Loose is here, with his occasionally amusing, occasionally idyllic portraits of family and social life, as is Dutchman Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, known during his lifetime as the “prince of landscape painting”.
The city of Leuven gets in on the act with new maps of “romantic walks” and “romantic bike rides”. They are working with a number of area hotels and restaurants for entire romantic packages and are staging lunchtime carillon concerts.
And why not? Between the country’s loveliest begijnhof and rather endless captivating views in a number of green spaces, Leuven’s got the goods to sell.
www.tinyurl.com/summer-in-leuven
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