The Grote Markt of Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 is situated between the Oude Markt (Old Square) and the Fochplein (Foch Square, named for French Marshal

Marshal of France

The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

 Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...

) and near both the Bondgenotenlaan (Avenue of the Allied Forces) and the Muntstraat (Mint Street).

Its location on the crossing of some of Leuven's most famous and most touristic spots makes the Grote Markt one of the city's busiest squares. However, it has been pedestrian-friendly for some years; only public transportation buses from De Lijn

De Lijn

Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn , usually known as simply De Lijn , is a company run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transportation, similar to the way in which Belgian railroads or the postal system is run. It runs about 3650 buses and 359 trams...

 are allowed to use the square.

Buildings

This location is one of the oldest and most historic in all of Leuven. The square has existed in its present form since the 14th Century, when the Catholic University Leuven

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...

, or K.U.Leuven, was established. Most of the square's buildings are built in the Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style, of which the town hall

Leuven Town Hall

The Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, is a landmark building on that city's Grote Markt square, across from the monumental St. Peter's Church...

 is a prime example.

Other buildings on the Grote Markt are the Church of St. Peter

St. Peter's Church, Leuven

Saint Peter's Church of Leuven, Belgium, is situated on the city's Grote Markt , right across the ornate Town Hall...

 and several guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

 houses. As throughout Leuven, there are also many pubs, taverns, and eateries on the Grote Markt. There is a significant contrast between the more formal and traditional style establishments on the Grote Markt and the more trendy, youth-oriented and student entertainment spots on the nearby Oude Markt.

Events

The Grote Markt is often used for cultural and other events, as is the case for Leuven's other big squares, such as the Oude Markt and the Ladeuzeplein

Ladeuzeplein

The Mgr. Ladeuzeplein is a square in the center of Leuven . The square was named after a former rector of the Catholic University Leuven, Monseigneur Paulin Ladeuze. The Ladeuzeplein is the largest square in Leuven...

 (Ladeuze Square),

Flower Carpet

One yearly event is the transformation of the Grote Markt into one large carpet of flowers. Each year celebrates a particular theme, such as 2007's Bicentennial of the Leuven Fire Department.

In 2005, an administrative mistake caused the yearly flower carpet, completely made of begonia

Begonia

Begonia is a genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae and is a perennial. The only other members of the family Begoniaceae are Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands, and the genus Symbegonia which more recently was included in Begonia...

s that year, to coincide with the opening and start of the
local cycling contest, named after Jef Scherens

Jef Scherens

Joseph "Jef" Scherens was a Belgian professional track cyclist, specialising in sprint where he won seven World Championships. Scherens was born in Werchter and died in Leuven...

. To avoid having the cyclists start their contest out of the middle of the carpet of flowers, Mayor Louis Tobback

Louis Tobback

Louis Marie Joseph Tobback is a Belgian politician. Tobback is a Flemish social democrat and member of the political party SP.A. He is currently the mayor of Leuven. He graduated in Romance philology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel....

 proposed a compromise: the cyclists would start their race from the outskirts of the square instead of the center and as compensation the theme of that year's flower carpet would be the Tribute to Cycling.

Summer Events

Being a university town, Leuven undergoes a drastic decrease in its usual population when thousands of students go home for the summer. For the last 20 odd years, the city of Leuven tries to compensate for the lack of students (along with their associated social activities) by organizing a number of summer events. Some of these taking place on the Grote Markt, among other spots in town, are:

• Beleuvenissen - weekly concerts on Friday nights in July, with themes such as salsa, tropical, jazz, blues.
• Hapje-Tapje (literally: a little snack - a small drink, approximately pronounced in English: hap-yeh, tap-yeh) - a gastronomical market during which participating restaurants set up stalls on the streets and squares of Leuven and offer small plates of their best food for a bargain price.

Planting of the Maypole

One of the oldest events is the planting of the Maypole

Maypole

A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer...

 which, in contrast with the British version, is not a pole as such but an actual tree, in Leuven usually a large birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

 tree. The origin of the Maypole celebration in Leuven is a century old dispute between the neighboring cities of Leuven and Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

:

The tradition goes back seven centuries and according to the local folklore commemorates a victory of Brussels over Leuven, although others claim the origin was a wedding ceremony during which a nobleman from Leuven married a lower class girl from Brussels. The nobleman gave money to celebrate the patron saint of Lawrence of Rome and plant a Maypole in his honor.

Of course, the legend is told slightly differently in Brussels then in Leuven: One day in the year 1213 a wedding was held in a pub in Brussels. During the festivities, the guests noticed a gang of troublemakers from Leuven. A fight broke out and just when the wedding guests from Brussels were losing the fight, some members of the guild of St. Lawrence
came to their rescue. The Leuven gang lost and John III, Duke of Brabant

John III, Duke of Brabant

Jan III van Brabant , also called John III, the Triumphant , was Duke of Brabant, Lothier, and Limburg...

gave the guild members permission to plant a Maypole each year on August 9; but this privilege would be lost if ever the people of Leuven managed to capture the tree before 5 PM.