page_title: University Hall (Leuven)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University Hall (Leuven) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: University Hall Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium - entrance via Old Market Place Nederlands: Universiteitshal K.U.Leuven - ingang via de Oude Markt This is a photo of onroerend erfgoed number 42151
context_page_description: University Hall in Leuven, Belgium is a medieval cloth hall with 17th and 18th-century extensions that is now the main administrative building of the KU Leuven. Heavily damaged during the Sack of Leuven in August 1914, the building was restored 1921–1926. It has been a listed building since 26 November 1942, and protected built heritage since 14 September 2009.
context_section_description: Work on the oldest parts of the building began on 11 April 1317, with the aim of replacing the 12th-century cloth hall which had become too small after a rapid expansion of the city's cloth trade around 1300. The builders were Jan Stevens, Arnout Hore and Goert Raes.
  The University of Leuven, founded in December 1425, began to occupy the building in 1431, although initially sharing it with some of the town's guilds and with the city armoury. In the late 17th century, the university sued the city of Leuven before the Brussels Privy Council to repair the building, and a settlement was reached on 28 May 1679 by which the city relinquished ownership of the building to the university, absolving itself of further responsibility for repairs. The university in return undertook to build a new guild house for the guilds which had been established in the cloth hall. On 18 June 1680, work started on an entirely new upper floor, which after completion in 1690 housed teaching spaces and the university library. A Baroque cartouche was added above the main entrance with the inscription from the Book of Proverbs (9:1), Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum ("Wisdom has built herself a house").
  In 1719, Rector Henri-Joseph Rega commissioned the addition of a new wing. Work started on 22 April 1723, and the new wing was taken into use on 14 March 1725.
  After the university was closed and its assets seized in 1797, the university hall became state property. An imperial decree of 12 December 1805 returned the former university hall to the city, which housed the city library in part of the building and rented the rest out to private businesses, including a butcher's shop, a tavern and a theatre. Under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830), a State University of Leuven was established, with a royal order of 25 September 1816 obliging the city to vacate all former university buildings and make them available to the new university. The State University was active from 1817 to 1835.
  In 1835 the Catholic University of Belgium, founded the previous year in Mechelen, relocated to Leuven and took the name Catholic University of Leuven. One of the attractions of the move was the city's offer to give the university hall in leasehold. Initially used for faculty offices and teaching, the building was gradually given over entirely to the library as new faculty buildings and lecture theatres became available.
caption: Rega's 18th-century extension
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