City Hall of Leuven
history
The Town Hall of Leuven was from 1439 to 1468 under the direction of Sulpitius van Vorst and Matheus de Layens in Leuven built, Belgium. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful late Gothic buildings in Europe and is one of the most famous town halls in the world. The town hall is on the Great Market (Grote Markt) directly opposite the St. Peter's Church . The model was originally the Brussels City Hall , as sources from the 15th century show; but the building was supposed to surpass the model in terms of rich figures. The architectural stylistic devices largely correspond to the late Gothic church buildings .
The building
Unlike many town halls of the time, the Löwen town hall does not have a high central tower, but has a slender, towering tower at the four corners of the two gable sides. In addition, the gables themselves are surmounted by a similar spire, so that the building appears crowned by a total of six towers. The facades are structured in a variety of ways: vertically with ten window axes on the eaves side and three window axes each on the gable sides, horizontally with three floors. The niches for the numerous figures come from the original building; their consoles show biblical scenes, most of which deal with the subject of guilt and punishment and are intended to urge the viewer to repent. The 236 figures in the niches themselves were only inserted after 1850 and show a pictorial program typical of 19th century historicism , a kind of "Löwener Pantheon ": The statues in the bottom row represent artists, scholars and other important personalities of the history of the city of Löwen , the statues of the second row of patrons of the Löwener parishes as well as people who campaigned for urban freedoms; in the third row are the Counts of the County of Leuven and the Dukes of Brabant . Biblical figures stand in the towers.
Facility
Inside the town hall, today's entrance hall was originally a covered continuation of the Great Market, intended as a meeting point for the residents. Today it serves as a space for receptions and celebrations, equipped with sculptures by Constantin Meunier, among others . The carvings of the support beams by Willem Ards show scenes from the Old Testament. Behind the entrance hall are three salons furnished in the 19th century with paintings by Otto Venius and Gaspar de Crayer . The Great Gothic Hall is on the upper floor; its beamed ceiling with scenes from the New Testament also carved by Willem Ards dates back to the 15th century. In the 19th century the room was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style and designed by André Hennebicq . equipped with history pictures from the city's history. Today it serves as the meeting place of the City Council of Leuven and the Provincial Parliament of Flemish Brabant . Behind it is the Small Gothic Hall with its wooden Gothic vaulted ceiling.
Since the city services moved in late 2009, the town hall has only been used for ceremonies.
The tourist information office is located on the side of the town hall.
Visit to the town hall
The historic rooms of the town hall can be visited once a day in a guided tour.
Emission source
- ↑ the facades of beautiful buildings ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Leuven Town Hall (Leuven)
- ↑ a b leuven.be: Stadhuis ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Leuven town hall
- Stadhuis on the website of the Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed (VIOE) (Dutch)
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 43.3 " N , 4 ° 42 ′ 4.1" E