Leuven, also Louvain, town in central Belgium, in the province of Brabant, on the Dyle River, near Brussels. Leuven is famous for its old buildings and churches. The Hôtel de Ville (town hall), built between 1448 and 1463, is considered one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. The Catholic University of Leuven, one of the most famous and largest in Belgium, was founded in 1425; in 1970 it was divided into independent Dutch- and French-speaking universities. Cloth Workers' Hall, a former guildhall built in 1317, originally housed the university. The Church of Saint Peter, dating from 1425, is noted for the decorations in its seven chapels.
Leuven originated as a settlement of the Roman Empire along the trade route leading from Rome to what is now Trier, Germany. From 1190 to 1383 Leuven was the capital of the duchy of Brabant. During the 14th century it was a center of cloth making. In 1382 a duke of Brabant punished the populace so severely for an attempted insurrection that thousands of weavers emigrated to Holland and England, with the result that the cloth-making industry in Leuven declined steadily thereafter.
