CITY OF TREASURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 2 September 1914, Page 3

CITY OF TREASURE.

WHICH NOTHING CAN REPLACE.

THE DESTROYED CITY OF LOUVAIN"

Louvain, which «has been destroyed by the Germans, is about 15 miles east-nor*-east of Brussels, and is a university town of 41,000 people. It has great historical associations, and was a remarkable seat of learning in the Middle Ages, as well as a manufacturing centre. The pride of the town was a very fine Hotel de Ville (town hall), which was acknowledged to be one of the finest pieces of Gothic architecture in Europe. Indeed, the whole city was filled with wonderful examples of mediaeval architecture. It rose to importance in the eleventh century as a place of residence of the Dukes of Brabant, of j wlhicih lit becamefe the capital. In Louvain was the scene of the memorable Joyeuse Entree of Wencesl&s, which repressed the principal charter of Brabant At that time it had a population of at 1 least 60,000, and .was very prosperous t s the centre of the woollen trade in Central Belgium.. The old walls of Louvain were* 4%. miles in circumference, and have Been replaced by boulevards. Froim 1360 to 1383 there wiats a dlesper-. ate civil struggle between the citizens and the patrician class, reminiscent of old Roman, days. The Duke threw in his lot with the patricians, and after twenty years' fighting the citizens wero completely crushed. With this civil strife the importance and prosperity of Louvain declined. Many weavers fled to Holland, and England and Brussels prospered at the expense of Louvain. What it lost in trade it partially recovered as a seat of learning, for in 1423 Duke John IV; of Brabant founded there, a university, and ever since Louvain •University has enjoyed the first place in Belgium, and the town has well been called the Oxford of Belgium. In 1679 the University was established in the old Cloth Workers' Hall, a building dating from 1317, with long arcades and graceful pillars supporting the upper stories. The library contained 70,000 volumes and some 500 priceless manuscripts. In the 16th century, when the univi'rs-ity was at the height of its fame, it counted 6000 stutientg. Among its many glorious buildings left until to-day intact from the Middle Ages the most remarkable was the Hotel de Ville. one o'. the richest and most ornate examples of pointful Gothic architecture in Europe, and always one of the show places of Belgium. It was the work of Mathieu de Layens, master mason,, who worked at it from 1448 to 1463, The building was one of three stories, each with ten pointed windows forming the •facade facing the square. " Above was n graceful balustrade, behind which was a lofty roof, and at the angles were towers perforated for the passage of light. The other three sides were decorated lavishly with statuary. There werc also in Louvain ma-nv ancient churches of the .Middle Ages, the destruction of , which will be a loss to Christendom. Louvain contained many paintings and works of art of mediaeval and later times, and many monuments of a not ignoble past. The destruction of the city removes one of those relics of history which neither modern science nor modem art can ever restore or replace.