Town Hall

euven Town Hall is one of the world’s most famous Gothic town halls and stands on the Grote Markt in Leuven.

The plans for Leuven’s town hall are based on and inspired by Bruges’ town hall. Bruges’ town hall is one of the oldest in Belgium and, in addition to Leuven’s, was the model for the town halls of Oudenaarde, Brussels and Ghent, among others. For the bricks, Lediaean stone was used, which came from quarries such as De Helle in Dilbeek,[1] and is used in the town hall.

The town hall has three floors. Between the windows there are two niches, which protrude slightly. Three of the four corner towers also have niches. The corbels are sculpted representations of the Bible. The recurring theme is guilt and punishment. They had a teaching and admonishing function. During the first restoration in the nineteenth century, most of them were replaced; however, the original corbels can be found in the attic of the Town Hall.

Since the city services moved to the municipal offices on Professor Roger Van Overstraetenplein (near the station), the historic Town Hall has only been used for ceremonies.