Leuven University Library, 1425-2000

Leuven's University Library has a particularly tragic past: creamed off by the French in 1795, burnt down by the Germans in 1914 and again in 1940 and, finally, split between Walloons and Flemings in the division of Leuven University in 1970. The Library reflects not only six centuries of University history, but also many chapters of European history and even world history in the last century. A president of the United States played a leading role, and a Japanese emperor also figures in it. The Library, built with American funds, was conceived as an American memorial to the Great War of 1914-1918. All this means the Library is not merely another university building. The past has imbued it with the higher values that survive human conflict. The University Library has been in full development since 1970. With his historic collection, the Maurits Sabbe Library is a living research centre for matters of religion and theology. The Arenberg Campus Library, a science library housed in a sixteenth-century monastery, combines technology and heritage. The various branch libraries range from law and philosophy to medicine, from ancient colleges in the heart of Leuven to the university hospital on the edge of the town. The book has three reading levels: the main body of the text offers the reader the wider perspective of an overview, texts in boxes explain specific aspects and extensive captions accompany six hundred illustrations. The book has been conveniently structured in eight chapters, each preceded by a picture gallery, as a summary of what is to follow. The book closes with a bibliography and a Corpus inscriptionum with the texts of all the commemorative stones of the so-called American Library of Leuven. Never-before-shown visual material alternating with present-day photos: image and text ensure that the book will be a point of reference for decades to come.

Preface

I. THE LIBRARIES OF THE OLD UNIVERSITY, 1425-1797

One university, many libraries
Monasteries
Faculties
Colleges

A central library in 1636
Charles II of Croy
Beyerlinck and Jansenius
Valerius Andreas
Slow growth

The library in a brand-new building
A library and wine cellar
A grand chamber
Baroque theatre
Books in trompe-l'oeil

Between Enlightenment and Revolution
Abbé (de) Nelis
Jean Noël Paquot
Jan Frans van de Velde
A castle in the air
Moved to Brussels
Plundered by Paris

II. THE LIBRARY IN THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION, 1797-1835

The State University of Leuven
The Belgian Revolution

III. A LIBRARY FOR THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, 1835-1914

The daughter of Jaïrus
An academic museum
Book stacks from Germany

IV. BELLO DIRUTA. THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE RECONSTRUCTION, 1914-1940

The fire of Leuven
The franc-tireurs
The Oxford of Belgium
The Sarajevo of the intellectuals
Culture and civilisation

The reconstruction
The Treaty of Versailles
The flood of dollars
The architect Whitney Warren
An American library
The Giralda of Seville
A castle in Denmark
A war monument
Allied fauna and flora
A gift from America
Liberty Bell
Written in the stars

A political symbol
The atmosphere of Locarno
A counterblast from Berlin
The balustrade smashed to pieces
Transatlantic

An ideal library?
German money
Scholarly libraries
Wish lists
Collector's items or mass production
A reader survey

V. BIS DIRUTA. THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND THE RECONSTRUCTION, 1940-1970

The second fire
Bis repetita

The reconstruction
Help from abroad
The American College
Versailles article 247
A disaster plan
Architect Henry Lacoste
Belated art deco
Beeswax and solid oak

The new collection
Scholarly libraries
Manuscripts and archives
Fragmentation

VI THE LIBRARY AFTER THE PARTITION, 1970-2000

Split and division
Odd and even
Drastic action

Centralisation?
Campusen
Faculties

New structures, new technology

The Central Library
Cultural heritage
Cranevelt and the other Friends
The Tabularium
Governments, newspapers and databases
Explosion

VII. THE LEUVEN LIBRARY LANDSCAPE AFTER 1970

From Arenberg to Gasthuisberg
A profession of faith
Philosophy
The Falcon
The garden of Letters
Temple of Mercury
Behavioural sciences
Gasthuisberg
Arenberg
Courtrai

Together with others
Network
Consultation

VIII. RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

COROLLARIA
Corpus Inscriptionum
Library data
Series bibliothecariorum
The library year by year

Bibliography
Index

Format: Edited volume - hardback

Size: 310 × 280 × 40 mm

544 pages

ISBN: 9789058674678

Publication: October 13, 2005

Series: Lovaniensia - 600 Years KU Leuven 25

Languages: English

Stock item number: 45687

Mark Derez is archivaris aan het universiteitsarchief (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).