Discover 20 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Leuven (Belgium). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: St. Peter's Church, Hortus Botanicus Lovaniensis, and Sint-Donatus Park. Also, be sure to include Grote Markt in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Leuven (Vlaanderen).
Table of Contents
St. Peter's Church
Also known as: Collégiale Saint-Pierre de Louvain
15th-century church with noted artworks. Saint Peter's Church in Leuven, Belgium, is a Roman Catholic church built in the 15th century in the Brabantine Gothic style. The church has a cruciform floor plan and a low bell tower that has never been completed. It is 93 metres long. It is located on the city's 'Grote Markt', opposite the Town Hall. In 1999, the belfry and bell tower of the church was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, in recognition of the civil importance and architecture of the belfries in the region.[1]
Address: Grote Markt, 3000 Leuven
Hortus Botanicus Lovaniensis
Also known as: Jardin botanique de Louvain
Botanical garden in Leuven, Belgium. The Hortus Botanicus Lovaniensis is a botanical garden in Leuven, Belgium, dating from 1738. It is situated in the city centre and has an extent of 2.2 hectares.[2]
Address: Kapucijnenvoer 30, 3000 Leuven
Sint-Donatus Park
Park in Leuven, Belgium. The Sint-Donatus Park is an urban park with a village green in Leuven, Belgium.
The park is located between the Charles Deberiotstraat, the Vlamingenstraat and the Tiensestraat. The park was laid out in an English landscaping style and was redeveloped between 1993 and 1998.
In the Sint-Donatuspark there are several remains of the original inner city walls from the twelfth century. Among which are a few towers..[3]
Grote Markt
Tourist attraction in Leuven, Belgium. The Grote Markt listen of Leuven, Belgium is situated between the Oude Markt and the Rector De Somerplein and near both the Bondgenotenlaan and the Muntstraat.
Its location on the crossing of some of Leuven's most famous and most touristic spots makes the Grote Markt one of the city's busiest squares. However, it has been pedestrian-friendly for some years; only public transportation buses from De Lijn are allowed to use the square.[4]
Park Abbey
Also known as: Abbaye de Parc
12th-century abbey with a museum. Park Abbey is a Premonstratensian abbey in Belgium, at Heverlee just south of Leuven, in Flemish Brabant.
The Annales Parchenses were written here in the 12th century.[5]
Address: Abdij van Park 7, 3001 Heverlee
Leuven Town Hall
Also known as: Hôtel de ville de Louvain
Gothic edifice with sculpted figures. The Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, is a landmark building on that city's Grote Markt square, across from the monumental St. Peter's Church. Built in a Brabantine Late Gothic style between 1448 and 1469, it is famous for its ornate architecture, crafted in lace-like detail.[6]
Address: Great Market Square 9, Leuven
M - Museum Leuven
Also known as: Musée M
Art museum in Leuven, Belgium. M – Museum Leuven or simply M is an art museum in the inner city of Leuven, Belgium, which was officially opened in 2009. The museum has a collection of some 46,000 works, which range from late-Gothic paintings and sculptures to 16th century local artists such as Jan Rombouts the Elder and Josse van der Baren to 19th-century paintings and sculptures by various Flemish masters including Constantin Meunier, Jef Lambeaux and George Minne.[7]
Address: Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28, 3000 Leuven
Kasteel van Arenberg
Also known as: Château d'Arenberg
Castle in Leuven, Belgium. Arenberg Castle is a château in Heverlee close to Leuven in Belgium. It is surrounded by a park.[8]
Address: Kardinaal Mercierlaan 94, 3001 Heverlee
Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein
Tourist attraction in Leuven, Belgium. The Mgr. Ladeuzeplein is a square in the center of Leuven. The square was named after a former rector of the Catholic University of Louvain, Monseigneur Paulin Ladeuze. The Ladeuzeplein is the largest square in Leuven. Until World War II it was called the Volksplaats or People's Place.
Among the local population the square was known as the Jerkarlisse. This name is derived from the Clarisse religious order who used to have a monastery at this location, when it still was a sandy hill (Jer refers in the local dialect to dirt, thus unpaved, as contrary to the adjacent Stiënkarlisse, the former paved Graanmarkt, now Herbert Hooverplein). In 1783 the monastery was abolished and the city of Leuven bought the estate from the Belgian authorities, who had inherited it, in order to establish a market dedicated to the sale of wood. The hill was leveled off and the first house on the square was erected in 1812. At this time the square was named Place Napoleon, later it was renamed the Volksplaats and eventually it became the Mgr. Ladeuzeplein.[9]
Vlierbeek Abbey
Also known as: Abbaye de Vlierbeek
Abbey. Vlierbeek Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey to the north-east of Leuven in Belgium, in the sub-district Kessel-Lo.[10]
Address: Abdij Vlierbeek 15, 3010 Kessel-Lo
Keizersberg Abbey
Also known as: Abbaye du Mont-César
Monastery. Keizersberg Abbey, also known as Mont César Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on the hill Keizersberg or Mont César in the north of the university town of Leuven, Belgium.[11]
Address: Mechelsestraat 202, 3000 Leuven
Pope's College
Residential college in Leuven, Belgium. Pope's College or Pope Adrian VI College in Leuven was a college for theology students at the Old University of Leuven, founded by Pope Adrian VI in 1523. At the suppression of the old university in 1797 the college became public property. It is now a hall of residence of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, rented from the city council.[12]
Address: 3 Hogeschoolplein, Leuven
Engels Kerkhof
Burial ground. Heverlee War Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the Second World War located in Heverlee, Belgium.
The Heverlee War Cemetery was established in 1946 and contains 977 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, twenty-nine First World War burials relocated to the cemetery, and twelve non-Commonwealth graves (including 11 Polish and 1 American airmen). The cemetery is one of those designed by Commission architect Philip Hepworth.[13]
Groot Begijnhof
Also known as: Grand béguinage de Louvain
Heritage museum in Leuven, Belgium. The Groot Begijnhof of Leuven is a well preserved beguinage and completely restored historical quarter containing a dozen streets in the south of downtown Leuven. About 3 hectares in size, with some 300 apartments in almost 100 houses, it is one of the largest remaining beguinages in the Low Countries. It stretches on both sides of the river Dijle, which splits into two canals inside the beguinage, thus forming an island. Three bridges connect the parts of the beguinage. The complete beguinage is owned by the University of Leuven and used as a campus, especially for housing academics.[14]
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Also known as: Bibliothèques universitaires de Louvain
Library in Leuven, Belgium. The city of Leuven in Belgium was the seat of three successive universities, each of which had a notable academic library.[15]
Address: Mgr. Ladeuzeplein 21, Leuven
KU Leuven
University in Leuven, Belgium. The KU Leuven is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, law, canon law, business, and social sciences.
In addition to its main campus in Leuven, it has satellite campuses in Kortrijk, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, Geel, Diepenbeek, Aalst, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, and in Belgium's capital Brussels. KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium and the Low Countries. In 2017–18, more than 58,000 students were enrolled. Its primary language of instruction is Dutch, although several programs are taught in English, particularly graduate degrees.
KU Leuven consistently ranks among the top 100 universities in the world by major ranking tables. As of 2021, it ranks 42nd in the Times Higher Education rankings, 70th according QS World University Rankings, 87th according to the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities. For four consecutive years starting in 2016, Thomson Reuters ranked KU Leuven as Europe's most innovative university, with its researchers having filed more patents than any other university in Europe; its patents are also the most cited by external academics.
Although Catholic in theology and heritage, KU Leuven operates independently from the church. KU Leuven who previously only accepted baptized Catholics, now is open to students from different faiths or life-stances.
The university's legal name is Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, officially Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, which translates in English as Catholic University of Leuven. However, it is not translated in official communications, like its similarly named French-language sister university Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain).[16]
Address: Oude Markt 13, 3000 Leuven
Collegium Trilingue
College. The Collegium Trilingue, often also called Collegium trium linguarum, or, after its creator Collegium Buslidianum, was founded in 1517 under the patronage of the humanist, Hieronymus van Busleyden. The three languages taught were Latin, Greek and Hebrew. It is located in Leuven, Belgium.[17]
St. Gertrude's Abbey
Building complex. St Gertrude's Abbey is a complex of former monastic buildings in Leuven, Belgium. An Augustinian priory founded in 1206 was suppressed in 1797. After restoration, the monastic buildings were used between 1917 and 1968 by Benedictine nuns as a house of studies and student residence.[18]
Scouts- en Gidsenmuseum
Museum
Address: Sint-Geertruiabdij 5, 3000 Leuven
Het Depot
Theater, Concerts and shows, Concert hall, Rock club
Address: Martelarenplein 12, 3000 Leuven