This weekend was a laying low in Leuven kind of weekend; it consisted of catching up on course readings with some shopping and city exploration on the side. On Saturday I walked through The Grand Béguinage and Sunday (today) included an excursion to Arenberg Castle.
The Grand Béguinage of Leuven (or Groot Begijnhof van Leuven, in Dutch) is a sort of "city within a city". The Béguinage is a walled-in area of Leuven that was founded c.1232 and beguines lived there until some time in the 1980's. The beguines were unmarried, religious women and the Béguinage was exclusively for these women - some lived with their children and other female family members (young boys had to move out once they were around 10 or 12 years old). The Béguinage was self-sufficient, much like a little town.
The University of Leuven has owned the Béguinage for about 50 years now and has since restored it. The buildings are now residences for students, professors, visitors from abroad, and university staff.
A river running through The Grand Béguinage.
The Grand Béguinage of Leuven (or Groot Begijnhof van Leuven, in Dutch) is a sort of "city within a city". The Béguinage is a walled-in area of Leuven that was founded c.1232 and beguines lived there until some time in the 1980's. The beguines were unmarried, religious women and the Béguinage was exclusively for these women - some lived with their children and other female family members (young boys had to move out once they were around 10 or 12 years old). The Béguinage was self-sufficient, much like a little town.
Entrance to The Grand Béguinage.
The Béguinage has it's own church.
Pigeon chillin' on a ledge. There is no shortage of pigeons in Belgium.
The following pictures were taken outside of the Béguinage when walking back to residence, but it's a lovely little park worth sharing.
I love how the trunks of trees in the more heavily wooded areas here are covered in vines.
Today, Sunday, involved a stop at the market in Heverlee (where I very surprisingly managed to not buy anything) followed by a walk to Arenberg Castle.
Arenberg castle (or Kasteel van Arenberg or Arenbergkasteel, in Dutch) is actually a university building used by the KU Leuven Engineering Science faculty. Engineers seem to draw the long straw in Leuven, too (much like home).
The lords of Heverlee built a first castle here in the 14th century, but from the beginning of the 16th century the current castle was built-up in renaissance-style. It was then renovated in neo-gothic style in the 19th century before the duke of Arenberg donated the area to the university in the early 1900's. If I don't write a bit about the history of these places then I feel guilty, so there you go.
Like all good castles, it wouldn't be complete without a moat (+ kayakers in the lower left).
The woods just a few minutes from Arenberg. The water was a lovely shade of brown...
That's all from this weekend. I'm happy to have finally finished another post. Next weekend, spoiler, is going to highlight a day trip to Aachen, Germany. So, look forward to that!
- Alexandra
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