Academic libraries in Leuven

The nucleus of its collection was formed by the works of the municipal library of Leuven that the city offered the State University in 1817.

In addition, the State University received from the government of the Netherlands the sum of 20,000 guilders to enrich its book funds.

This library was burned by German soldiers at the beginning of the First World War, destroying approximately 230,000 books, 950 manuscripts, and 800 incunabula.

[1] After the First World War a new purpose-built library was erected on the Ladeuzeplein in a building of neo-Flemish Renaissance style, designed by the American architect Whitney Warren and built between 1921 and 1928.

Since 1970 the collections have been divided between the French-speaking Université catholique de Louvain and Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

The current central library of the Catholic University of Leuven , rebuilt after the fire of 1940.
The library of the Catholic University of Leuven in a turn-of-century postcard
The ruins of the University of Leuven's library after it was burned by the German army in 1914