Leuven

Leuven that's the university with its exuberant students who rejuvenate the city each year when they take over the streets and squares in October. It's the oldest university of the Low Countries famous throughout Europe since the time of Erasmus when its professors lived and breathed humanism. Leuven derives its charm form both these aspects: the myth of youth in a traditional setting. It earned world-fame as the 'Oxford of Belgium' after the tragedy of 1914 when an American connection enabled the university library to rise spectacularly from the ashes: Leuven is a young people's republic in an old city oozing baroque and full of lively street cafes. And life here moves at two separate rhythms: chaotic during the academic year, drowsy during the holidays - then only the rock festival livens things up. The photographer avoided the turbulence of youth. He captured the hushed city wich Leuven becomes during the summer months. When the tourists come exploring. Then Leuven is a friendly open air-museum.Fine houses, colleges and university builings hide behind walls and portals.
It is an architecture which invites the photographer to take vistas through the framework of vaults and doorways. Of course, he cannot ignore the tourist attractions entirely:the town hall and the church provide a unique ensemble of Brabantine Gothic. Dirk Bouts, the Flemish primitive painter who settled here from Haarlem, was Brabantine as well. But the city is not always picturesque. The soft sandstone of its monuments is crumbling away and there are sharp contrasts with Belgian urban development. Contrasts are photogenic. They five the townscape its authenticity.