- Provisional programme -
Guide for the entire day: Guido Latré, Emeritus Professor UCLouvain; former student and lecturer at Leuven University.
Guide for Erasmus’ ‘Collegium Trilingue’: a member of the ERASMOS+-team, Leuven University (Classical Studies)
Leuven is a beautiful medieval town that is sometimes called ‘Belgium’s best-kept secret.’ Its university was founded in 1425 by the canons of the chapter of Saint Peter’s church; the university celebrates its 600th anniversary this year.
The programme takes into account that some participants will need to catch the 17.56 Eurostar from Brussels Midi to London Saint Pancras.
8.30: gather in the main hall of Antwerpen Centraal railway station
8.35: walk to platform 24 (platform to be confirmed)
8.51: train to Leuven departs at platform 24.
9.35: arrival at Leuven railway station
9.35-9.45: those who don’t intend to return to Antwerp, but will be travelling on to other destinations later in the day (e.g. to the Eurostar at Brussels Midi), can leave their luggage in the lockers of Leuven station.
9.45-10.00: walk to the Leuven town hall. Participants who are not travelling from Antwerp can join us at the town hall at 10.00.
10.00-11.30: visit in two groups to Erasmus’ ‘Collegium Trilingue’ (what remains of his famous college of the three ‘biblical’ languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin) and to the Church of Saint Peter, with among others, its ‘Flemish Primitive’ masterpieces of Rogier Van der Weyden and Dirk Bouts
- Group 1: Collegium Trilingue 10.00-10.40; Saint Peter’s Church 10.50-11.30
- Group 2: Saint Peter’s Church 10.00-10.40; Collegium Trilingue 10.50-11.30
11.40-12.05: the 15th century Gothic town hall and University Hall (former medieval cloth hall) explained from the outside
12.15-13.15: lunch in restaurant De Werf, Hogeschoolplein 5
13.15-13.40: walk to the Groot Begijnhof, via Saint Michael’s Church and Van Dale College
13.40-14.30: visit to the Groot Begijnhof (‘beguinage’), a late medieval and renaissance village for women who lived together in a semi-religious community
>> Further programme for those who need to catch a train to Brussels
14.30-15.00: they can either walk back to Leuven station (25 minutes) or get a taxi. - The guide takes the walkers to the corner of a street, from where they can get in a straight line to the railway station. - All walks so far will not have been more than 15 minutes, but if you find that this longer one (25 minutes) is one walk too many, a taxi can be ordered beforehand on request (at participants’ own expense).
15.00-15.10: pick up your luggage at Leuven railway station.
15.26: train to Brussels Midi on platform 2 (to be confirmed)
16.03: train arrives at Bruxelles Midi, where you have plenty of time to check in for the Eurostar that leaves at 17.56
>> Further programme for those who can stay longer in Leuven
14.30-15.00: tea/ coffee in a nearby café at participants’ own expense
15.10-16.00: your guide will be available to answer questions and for some further exploration of Leuven
16.00: convene at the town hall
16.05-16.25: walk back to Leuven railway station
16.36: train at platform 9, arriving in Antwerpen Centraal at 17.28
If you want to stay longer in Leuven and travel back on your own, you are of course free to do so, but in this case, you’ll have to buy your own return ticket (standard rate second class: 9.10 euros).