Leuven

Why is it that so many Belgian places names have become synonymous with war? The Ardennes, Ypres, Flanders' fields and, of course, Waterloo, the purpose of this trip. There is also Dunkirk, just only a couple of miles across the border. Leuven is one of those such places, especially the library.

At the start of the first world war (actually, before war was declared for the breaching of Belgian independence and neutrality) the books and manuscripts of Leuven's library were burnt and destroyed. Since then, Leuven's name has been associated with the Great War. As a strange connection, it was Manchester's John Rylands Library that replenished the destroyed books.Read more