Fitigra :: Venue

Thursday, February 10, 2005

The venue for the first day is the Faculty of Arts, situated in the centre of Leuven and within walking distance from the train station. A detailed map indicating both the train station and the faculty can be consulted here. A series of increasingly more detailed maps is available here (more detailed maps can be obtained by clicking the small red cross; on the second map you may be able to spot the train station: it is the combination of two small rectangles on the right hand side, more or less in the middle).

Friday, February 11 and Saturday February 12, 2005

The venue for day two and three of the conference is the Faculty Club, the conference and meeting Center of the Catholic University of Leuven; it is part of Leuven's beautifully preserved and restaured Beguinage. A series of increasingly more detailed maps indicating the location of the Beguinage is available here (again, more detailed maps can be obtained by clicking the small red cross; on the second map you may be able to spot the train station: it is the combination of two small rectangles on the right hand side, more or less in the middle). Signposts will be in place at the Beguinage.

Leuven's Beguinage: A historic site

The Leuven Beguinage ("Groot Begijnhof") was founded in 1234 as a community of women devoted to religious life. The beguines ("begijnen") did not make perpetual vows, kept their own property and supported themselves. The Beguinage was founded outside the city walls of the time. The oldest remaining houses date from the 16th century when the original houses were replaced by brick structures. The houses are generally named after a saint or a biblical event. The church, dedicated to saint John the Baptist, is early gothic. The date of construction, 1305, is carved into the right buttress of the north portal. Approximately 300 beguines lived in the Leuven beguinage in the 17th century.
The Beguinage was taken over by the welfare commission in 1925. Except for the church, it was sold to the university in 1962 under the condition that the entire complex be restored. A year later the restoration began under the direction of professor R. Lemaire.
The Beguinage today is a university residential quarter for students, professors, visiting professors and administrative staff at the university. There are about 100 houses, accommodating some 480 inhabitants. The former infirmary of the Beguinage has been converted into the Faculty Club, a place for the university staff to meet (and eat). The House of Chièvres at the heart of the Beguinage has been converted into a congress center.

Leuven and beyond

The Flemish historic town of Leuven is located at the centre of Belgium, and is only removed some 10 miles from the French speaking part of Belgium. By train, you can reach the capital Brussels in about 25 minutes. From Brussels, international trains leave for Paris (travelling time: 1h40), London (2h), Amsterdam (3h), Cologne (2h30), and Luxembourg (2h30). From Leuven, you can catch direct trains to among others Antwerp (50 min), Bruges (1h20), Gent (1h), Liège (50 min). For more information about train connections, please refer to the Belgian Railways site. For more information about Flanders and Belgium, you can consult the respective governments' websites at www.flanders.be and www.belgium.be.