Leuven: Boeken en Bier [pictures]

Leuven: Boeken en Bier

I first started visiting Belgium more than thirty years ago and subsequently had the good fortune to live and study and work in the beautiful university town of Leuven for a number of years. In the time since I lived there, I have returned many times for visits of various lengths and always, when I arrive there, I have a feeling very much like the feeling I have when I visit my parents and the town I spent my childhood in. It's a feeling of belonging, of being home. Like Horace, I believe I have three souls and one of mine is Flemish.

After a most pleasurable stay in Oxford this past September, I returned -- as I always do when in Europe -- to my beloved Leuven and for the first time in many years had the chance to see the festivities surrounding the city's kermis, including the carpet of flowers that is displayed in the Grote Markt.


The Grote Markt (‘big market’) is at the centre of Leuven and beside it stand both Sint Pieters church (see further below, Deemster...) and the extraordinary and magnificent stadhuis (‘city hall’), shown directly below, which was built in the ‘flamboyant Gothic’ style of Brabant, the province of which (albeit in very different configurations) Leuven has twice been capital:


The statue shown below is also on the Grote Markt and for many of us who have studied at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, ‘Fonske’ (nickname for Alfons but also play on the Latin phrase fons sapientiae) is an amusing reminder of the central place of both books and beer in the proper education of a gentleman and scholar:


The old university library was destroyed during the First World War and a new one was built with contributions from various schools and universities in the United States. Below is a view of the tower of the library, as seen from the main building for the humanities, where I spent a large portion of time studying, taking classes and later doing research:


Getting to the topic of cafés, below is a picture of the Café Amedee in the Muntstraat, owned by my old friend Lucas:


Only classical music is played in the Amedee and it’s a good place to read, to write, to play ‘go’ or chess or Scrabble (in Dutch, mind you), and of course, to drink:


A short way from the Amedee, just off the Naamsestraat, is another fine café, but this one plays only jazz and blues; it’s called De blauwe Kater and is housed in the space where the Kersouwke, the old puppet theatre, was back in my student days:


They have an especially fabulous selection of beers, including one of my favourite beers in the world, Palm... waar Brabant trots op is:


In my early days in Leuven, one of my two stamcafés was het Moorinneken. Unfortunately, the bar closed and the building was bought up and turned into an extension of the neighbouring, excessively bourgeois and not so interesting café. The previous owner, Guy, looked rather like Jacques Brel and his café had an atmosphere unlike any other, in part due to the beautiful and very warm interior of the café but in part also due to the music played, the people who visited and, of course, the personality of the owner and staff. All that is sadly gone (though Guy is alive and well and living in Leuven) but the building itself, directly across from the stadhuis at the start of the Naamsestraat is still as beautiful as ever:


My other stamcafé back in my early student days in Leuven was De blauwe Schuit, which stands in the northeastern corner of the Vismarkt. It has been cleaned up and civilised to a considerable degree and no longer has all the scruffy charm it once had, but it still has a beautiful courtyard and actually has a different sort of charm now. It remains a place I always stop in for a couple of beers or a coffee and sometimes a bite to eat as well:


A little north of the Vismarkt on the Mechelsestraat, at the intersection by the Sint Geertruikerk and het Kleine Begijnhof, is a café that used to be frequented only by local old-timers, most of whom spoke always in Leuvens dialect; it’s called – appropriately enough – Onder den Toren. The clientele is younger and not so local these days but it’s a nice and cozy place inside and it has an impressive view outside. I used to live directly across from there, on the opposite corner of the Mechelsestraat:


Not many of these pisbakken left, and that is a shame; de mannen weten waarom:


Back in the Amedee, a last round with my good friend, Pol, a Jupiler for him and a Westmalle dubbel van het vat for me:


Deemster op de Grote Markt:


Looking down the Bondgenotenlaan, near the train station back toward the stadhuis, it’s hard to say goodbye:


Tot de volgende keer.

Antonius


Related posts:
About Elsen Kaasambacht in Leuven: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=50684#50684
About 'Mort Subite' in Brussels: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=45657#45657
About Liège: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=47356#47356
About stoofvlees: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=52295#52295

Bedankt voor het leuke beslag en de prachtige fotos, vooral die van Sint Pieter's kerk - just amazing. (Sorry, I have no idea how to say "just amazing" in Dutch; whoops, make that Flemish.)

alleycat wrote:Bedankt voor het leuke beslag en de prachtige fotos, vooral die van Sint Pieter's kerk - just amazing. (Sorry, I have no idea how to say "just amazing" in Dutch; whoops, make that Flemish.)

Alleycat,

Hartelijk bedankt voor de vriendelijke woorden... 'Just amazing'... hmmm... in't Leives, mesjin moo 'ongeluefloëk!'

Two more views of the Grote Markt:
Complementing beautifully the stadhuis is het Tafelrond, a fairly recent building (taking the place of one destroyed in the war) built in the Brabantish Gothic style:


Het Moorinneken stands on the left of this row of Herenhuizen, which show a nice variety of gevel styles:


Antonius

Antonius,

Thanks for the Leives translation (seems more German/Danish than Dutch?) 'coz it spurred my Dutch memory: "echt ongelooflijk!"

Sadly, I hadn't heard of Leuven before your post and am obviously the poorer for it. That flamboyant Brabantish gothic style is spectacular and the gevels on the herenhuizen are "je reinste Amsterdam," (no insult intended). Does that gothic style occur anywhere else, or just in Leuven? My brother and I are contemplating a long overdue trip to Holland this fall, to revisit our old stomping grounds, and I think a side trip to Belgium could be in order. Hmm, as I recall, Belgium is said to be rife with chocolate shops. Yep, a side trip may definitely be in order.

Thanks again.

Alice

alleycat wrote:Thanks for the Leives translation (seems more German/Danish than Dutch?) 'coz it spurred my Dutch memory: "echt ongelooflijk!"

A:

The urban dialects of Brabant have undergone some wild sound changes but all in all remain very much within the general Dutch mold. The most advanced or most devient are the dialects of Leuven and Brussels; the dialect of Antwerp is also quite colourful but phonologically a bit closer to standard Dutch than those others and thus more comprehensible to standard speakers...

Sadly, I hadn't heard of Leuven before your post and am obviously the poorer for it. That flamboyant Brabantish gothic style is spectacular and the gevels on the herenhuizen are "je reinste Amsterdam," (no insult intended). Does that gothic style occur anywhere else, or just in Leuven?

Brabant was the wealthiest and most important part of the Low Countries when the revolt against Spanish/Habsburgian rule began in the 16th century, yielding that prime position ultimately to Holland as Holland blossomed with its freedom from Spanish control and Brabant languished under continued and more oppressive Spanish occupation. Anyway, architecture in Brabant flourished during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance and there are several Brabantish or Brabantine styles. Brabantish gothic -- both of the flamboyant variety and of the simpler variety -- is indeed quite beautiful. Examples can be found in most of the major towns (note, the old Duchy of Brabant is now divided between several provinces: in Belgium, Brabant Walon, Brussel/Bruxelles, Vlaams Brabant and Antwerpen province, and in the Netherlands the province of Noord Brabant). In addition to Leuven, you can find examples in Brussels, Antwerp, Mechelen, Den Bosch and probably others.

My brother and I are contemplating a long overdue trip to Holland this fall, to revisit our old stomping grounds, and I think a side trip to Belgium could be in order. Hmm, as I recall, Belgium is said to be rife with chocolate shops. Yep, a side trip may definitely be in order.

There certainly are lots of good things to eat and drink in Belgium. If you think you might get down to Leuven and southern Brabant more generally, drop me a line and I can pass along some suggestions, if that might seem worthwhile.

Thanks again.

Niets te danken... en nog een paar kiekjes hieronder...

A

***

Leuven and Brussels vied for preeminence in Brabant for a long time, with Leuven being the original capital. Eventually, the Duke of Brabant decided to move the capital to Brussels but in compensation, Leuven got a university. As with the Grote Markt in Leuven, the Grote Markt of Brussels offers some of the city's best architecture and without doubt, that market is one of the most beautiful spots in all of Europe.

Here are a few more pictures I took this year with some Brabantish architecture.

Het Broodhuis, Grote Markt, Brussel:


Het Stadhuis, Grote Markt, Brussel:


One of my favourite parts of Brussels is the area around the Grote en Kleine Zavel (Grand et Petit Sablon), with its beautiful and now mostly restored church.
De Zavelkerk (Onze Lieve Vrouw), vanuit de Kleine Zavel, Brussel:


De Zavelkerk (Onze Lieve Vrouw), detail, Brussel:


Onze helden van de Lage Landen in de strijd voor onafhankelijkheid, de martelaars Egmont en Hoorn*:

* Our heroes of the Low Countries in the struggle for independence, the martyrs Egmont and Hoorn.

Antonius

Antonius,

Thanks for the info. and the photos, especially het Broodhuis. I don't know what it is about this particular gothic style that I find so appealing. I've never been extraordinarily impressed with the gothic style before, such as at Chartres or Notre Dame.

Het Broodhuis - I wonder whether they really sold bread there. Maybe it was a bread market on the lower level. The smell would have been sublime. One of the things I miss most about Holland, even after all these years, is the fantastic bread, bought fresh every morning from the warme bakker.

I really enjoyed my vicarious trip to Belgium. Thanks again for all the pics.

Alice

Thanks for the last picture; it brought back memories since my brother and sisters and I would run around that Petit Sablon every Sunday after our family attended Mass at the St. Nicholas Church near the Grote Markt during our year-long stay in Brussels in 70-71. In the several times I have been back since, I have always made a point to go back to the Petit Sablon.

alleycat wrote:Het Broodhuis - I wonder whether they really sold bread there. Maybe it was a bread market on the lower level. The smell would have been sublime. One of the things I miss most about Holland, even after all these years, is the fantastic bread, bought fresh every morning from the warme bakker.

A:

It was, in fact, built with the intention of it serving as a central market for the bakers but functioned in that capacity only briefly, I believe.

*

K-T:

Sint Nicholas is a beautiful and very old little church. That sounds like a pleasant way to spend Sunday morning in Brussels.

A