“Fonske,” a mascot of my 1st alma mater, K.U. Leuven

Belgium’s 600 year-old University of Louvain now exists as two very different institutions. There is the French-speaking university, created in the 1970’s on a newly-built campus in the Wallonie area south of Brussels named “Louvain-La-Neuve” i.e., New Louvain. And there is the Dutch-speaking campus, still located within the original 1000-year-old Flemish town of Leuven and more commonly known as the (Katholieke) Universiteit te Leuven or “KUL” for short.

The separation of the Dutch and French parts of the university eased what had been an occasionally tempestuous cohabitation of these two very different Belgian cultures, letting each flourish in a more relaxed environment.

Like most other European Universities, KUL does not have a logo, special colors or other sports-team icon. The oldest symbol of Leuven is “Sedes Sapientiae” (Seat of Wisdom) a statue of the Virgin Mary originally carved in the 13th century but reworked in 1442. This statue is more commonly called “Our Lady of Leuven,” and is depicted on the official seal of KUL. A more secular mascot, the Fonske fountain, was added to the town square (Fonsplein) in the mid-1970’s as a symbol of learning; note the waters of wisdom pouring into the lad’s open mind. Despite its modern lines the sculpture fits in well with the restored medieval atmosphere of Leuven, one of Belgium’s prettiest towns. Over the centuries, KUL has retained its reputation as a top European university, known for its contributions to the fields of computer science and medicine as well as the more traditional Humanities.