Biblical figures carved on corbel at base of niche on facade of the Stadhuis or Town Hall in the Grote Markt or Market Square at Leuven in Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium. The Stadhuis, built between 1439 and 1469, is a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic architecture and the elaborate carved niche bases or corbels are part of the building’s original 1400s design.
Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium: elaborately carved base of one of the niches on the facade of Leuven’s Town Hall, City Hall or Stadhuis, which has stood in the city’s Grote Markt since the mid-15th century. It is a masterpiece of richly-carved Brabantine, Late or Flamboyant Gothic architecture which took thirty years and three architects to build. Long-empty niches on the facade of the Stadhuis were filled with statues of human figures in the 1800s. However, the elaborate carved niche bases or corbels are part of the building’s original 1400s design. The oldest part of the Leuven Stadhuis – the backhouse – was built in the years from 1439 to 1445 by Sulpitius van Vorst and Jan II Keldermans. The famous fronthouse with its magnificent facade on the Grote Markt, was built between 1448 and 1469 under the leadership of Matthijs de Layens, Leuven’s renowned architect. The attached conservatory along the Naamsestraat was built in 1461. The other youngest wing along the Muntstraat was built only in 1938. Originally not part of the city hall, the “Dekenij van de lakenwevers” – the Weavers’ Hall – built in 1680 was later added to the complex. Leuven was formerly the capital of the Duchy of Brabant but, in the second half of the 13th century, successive Dukes preferred Brussels and the centre of power shifted. In response, and to rival Brussels’ City Hall built in 1401, Leuven established its university n 1425 and began building the magnificent Staduis in 1448. Today, the Stadhuis has a merely ceremonial function after the city’s administrative services moved out in 2009.
Size: 2768px × 2768px
Location: Stadhuis, Town Hall, City Hall, Grote Markt, Market Square, Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgi
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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