Travel Guide Leuven

Leuven is an ancient city with a glorious past, once capital of the Duchy of Brabant. Today, it is a major university town (34,000 students for 93,000 inhabitants), dotted with buildings belonging to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven), Belgium's oldest university, founded in 1425. Leuven is also home to the world's largest brewery, AB-Inbev, and one of Europe's most beautiful and largest libraries.Not to be confused with Louvain-la-Neuve, which is in Walloon Brabant. To be on the safe side, we use "Leuven" for the city in Flemish Brabant, and "Louvain" or "Louvain-la-Neuve" for Walloon Brabant. There's a reason for this homonymy (see "Walen Buiten" box). Among the city's specialties : parc Abbey beer, Keizersberg (Mont César) beer, Domus beers, Wentelkriek, Keizersberg Abbey cheese, Leuvense Café (juniper coffee), Leuvense Fonskes (homemade pralines), Leuvens Meloentje (melon jenever), Leuvens Nootje (hazelnut jenever) and Leuvens Pechke (peach jenever).