LOUVAIN. 24, Route. 239

(Pi. C, 2, 3), beside the Hotel de Ville, 12 R. at 2-3, B. 8/4, D. 11/2 fr. —
At the station: Hore, pe uta Gare (PI. c; D, 2), Hérer DE L'INDUSTRIE
(Pl. d; D, 2), BR. 13/4, B. 1/2, D. 2 fr., both unpretending.

Restaurants. Taverne Mathieu, Rue de la Station 40 (Pl. C, D, 2), D.
2 fr.. Table Ronde, in the club of that name at the S.E. end of the Groote
Markt (entr. Rue du Chéne), D. 2 fr. (12-1.30 p.m.), good; Taverne St. Jean,
Rue de Diest 24 (Pl. C, D, 2), D. 11/2-2 fr. — Cafés. Café des Brasseurs,
Rue de la Station 3, near the Groote Markt (P!.B, C, 2); Café Rubens,
Place Marguerite, opposite the church of St. Pierre (Pl. C, 2). — Beer.
Gambrinus, Groote Markt (Munich beer; also cold viands). The beer of
Louvain is a sickly beverage.

Cabs, or Vigilantes, 1 fr. per drive; to or from the station 411/2-2 fr.
(bargain desirable). — Tramway from the station to the Groote Markt, 10 c.
— Steam Tramways, see p. 243.

Post and Telegraph Office (Pl. C, 2), Impasse des Choraux, to the N. of
the Place Marguerite, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Sun. and holidays, 9-12).

Bookseller, R. Fonteyn, Rue de la Station 22.

Chief Attractions (2-2'/2 hrs. suffice). Tramway from the station to the
Groote Markt; St. Pierre (p. 240); Hotel de Ville, exterior (see p. 240);
University, exterior (p. 242).

Louvain (82 ft.), Flem. Leuven, Germ. Léwen, on the Dyle, which
flows through the town and is connected by a canal with the Rupel
(p. 88), is a dull place with 42,200 inhabitants. The greater part
of the space enclosed by the walls built in the 14th cent. is now
used as arableland. The ramparts surrounding the walls have been
partially converted into promenades. In the middle ages it was the
capital of Brabant and was noted for its cloth-factories, but little
now remains to recall this period of prosperity, except the Hotel
de Ville and some early Flemish paintings in the church of St. Pierre.
The university, founded in 1426, ranked in the 416th cent. as the
best in Europe. The chief industries of Louvain are brewing, lace-
making, and the production of church ornaments.

The name of the town is derived from Loo, signifying a wooded height,
and Veen, a marsh, words which are combined also in Venlo. The Emperor
Arnulf defeated the Normans in this vicinity in 891. From the beginning
of the 11th cent. Louvain was the residence of a line of counts, who
Jater obtained possession of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine (p. xxiii), and in
1190 assumed the title of Dukes of Brabant. The growth of the city was

rapid, and in the 14th cent. it is said to have numbered 100-150,000 inhab.,
most of whom were engaged in the cloth-trade, and to have contained
no fewer than 2400 (?) manufactories. Here, as in the Flemish towns,
the weavers were a very turbulent class. During an insurrection in 1378,
thirteen magistrates of noble family were thrown from the windows of
the Hotel de Ville and received by the populace below on the points of
their spears; but Duke Wenceslaus took the city in 1382 and severely
punished the citizens, thousands of whom emigrated to Holland and Eng-
land, whither they transplanted their handicraft. From that period may
be dated the decay of Louvain.

In front of the railway-station (Pl. D, 2) is a statue of Sylvaan
van de Weyer (d. 1874), a native of Louvain, who was one of the
most ardent promoters of the Revolution of 1830, and became the
ambassador of the Provisional Government at the London Con-
ference. The statue is by Charles Geef's.

The wide Rue de la Station (Statie-Straat), on the left side of
which is a bronze statue, by J. Jourdain (1909), of Justus Lipsius

Barpekrr’s Belgium and Holland. 15th Edit. 1D