The K.U.L (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, or Catholic University of Leuven) is one of the oldest still existing Catholic universities in the world, founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V. At the start of the university, four faculties were created: arts, civil justice, religious justice and medicine.
In the 16th century the humanist, Desiderius Erasmus, lectured there. He founded the Collegium Trilingue in 1517 for the study of Hebrew, Latin and Greek - the first of its kind. The tutor of the young emperor Charles V, Adriaan Cardinal Florensz of Utrecht, was a professor there before being elected in 1522 as the last non-Italian Pope before Pope John Paul II. The famous cartographer Gerard Mercator, whose map-projection is still in current use, was also a scholar there.
In 1914, the University Hall with its precious library was set to flames by German troops and 300,000 books were reduced to ashes. Afterwards, an international solidarity campaign with a major American contribution helped construct a new library on the present site. Unfortunately this library was burned down in 1940 during the war and this time only 15000 of its 900000 volumes were saved.
All through the year the city of Leuven presents a lively atmosphere because of the many students from all over Belgium and abroad. As with many ancient university towns, the university buildings are spread throughout the town rather than gathered together on a central campus. Most of these buildings are not open to the public.