17/29.- Flanders: Leuven, the University

Belgium has several Universities: state universities, church (roman catholic) universities and free universities, and each of these has a Flemish and a French-speaking branch. The University of Leuven / Louvain is a Catholic university, founded in 1425 and the oldest in the kingdom. Great scholars like Erasmus, Justus Lipsius, the Belgian geographer Mercator and Jansenius have taught here. In 1968, the University split into a Flemish university, KUL, which stayed in Leuven, and a French-speaking one, UCL, which settled in Louvain-la-Neuve, in the French-speaking part of the country, where a brand-new town was built for the purpose.

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