This is why, whenever we vacation abroad, we allow a significant part of each day unplanned, just to be able to stroll and gaze at the city. One of my favourites is to stroll around near the end of the afternoon or early evening during the magic hour when the lights are coming up and people are starting to relax from the working day. Just beautiful.
Here in Sweden they have a law of "protection of cultural heritage buildings" They are not allowed to be defaced or changed. If they are to be renovated they have to be fixed keeping the heritage with "more or less" ORIGINAL material and style. If it is so bad that it has to for safety reasons be taken down it has to be rebuilt the same preserving as much of the old material as possible.
8:00 fun fact about thoses tower of Bologna; It is believed that the construction of those towers was merely a "flexxing" competition between two powerful families. There were a lot more towers, but I believe they all collapsed at some point, these two being the only remaining, and the in danger of collapsing aswell.
Hahahah! I believe it... And I can even see it happening. Sitting in 1500's era in some cafeteria and getting to an argument with the "other rich guy" from same city. Well I'll build a huge tower. Really? I'll do even bigger tower. ❤😂
I think in various cities the local medieval governments decided to put some limits to the height of towers, to put a stop to the dangerous showcase/competition of economic/political wealth the towers were.
Same with the skyscrapers in NYC! Mine is bigger! Oh yeah? Watch this! But when you get to a certain height, it costs more per square feet to get higher. Just big dick competition.
There are still 24 towers in Bologna standing. The two most famous ones are just the tallest one and the 4th tallest among those 24 surviving ones. They were built by many families from two political factions.
Cologne Cathedral in Germany has an annual building maintenance budget of 6.6 million €. Which is only half the story, as they have to have people trained with historical methods to replace things. At least the construction "ended"* in 1880, so there's newer documentation... but it began in 1248 (with construction halting 1528-1823), so the old stuff... not so much luck. * it's one of those places where being done at one end means you can begin at the other end again. Local legend is the world ends if the cathedral is ever really finished.
Wow that's a huge amount of money, although its a truly spectacular Cathedral! We have a similar system where I am with `Historic Environment Scotland`. They train all their own apprentices in traditional methods of construction, solely to work on historic buildings and monuments.
To elaborate, they have the "Dombauhütte", which is kind of their own construction company which is exclusively busy with the maintenance of the cathedral. You can book a guided tour through and over the roofs of the cathedral where one of the stone masons or architects will show you around and explain about the history and the architecture. Depending on the specialty of your guide you get a different perspective. It's a spectacular tour which partially leads you through the spires on the outside. Not recommended if you have trouble with vertigo.
Dubrovnik walls were built from the 13th to 17th centuries. They were reinforced in the 15th century when the gunpowder came into Europe. They endured a lot. Most recently the bombardment in the recent independence war. I guess the old builders did a damn good job.
There was an old Pub called the Crooked House in Staffordshire , it was demolished by its new owners without permission Because of this they have been taken to court and could go to prison if they do not rebuild it in exactly the same conditions it was in before the demolition, they must include as much as possible of the materials of the original building
Stuff like that happens everywhere. Here in Switzerland, in Gstaad there was a protected Grandhotel from the height of the Belle-Epoque, still with all it's original Details. Because they didn't got Permission to take it down for a newbuild, they just blew it up early in the Morning of a Saturday (Friday evening - Monday morning nobody works Construction in Switzerland). There was just a huge Bang on Saturday morning and one and a half Years later the stupidly big and ugly newbuild opened with huge Festivites... The massive, massive Ticket they had to pay, didn't bother them at all, they didn't even flinch at it. It was calculated it into the Rebuildingbudget already beforehand...
In Utrecht they just finished a 5 year restauration project of the Dom Tower, build between 1321 and 1382. It's way smaller (by volume) and less intricate than the Leuven City Hall. Its restauration cost €37.4 million, and amazingly that was €1.5 million under budget. During the restauration before this one they put a real size image of the Apollo rocket on the scaffolding to promote the 1986 space expo that was in Utrecht.
The white car at 3:15 is a Morgan +4, a company famous for their roadsters and their unique partial wood frame/chassis construction. This construction method has a lot of historical significance since the British fighter plane "Spitfire" (considered most famous/integral plane to defend Britain in WW2) was built on a wooden frame with a carburetted supercharged 27L (1.650 cubic inches) V12, the Rolls-Royce Merlin making 1000hp in 1936 on 87octane aviation fuel, 1300hp from 1940 onward and closer to 1800hp at the end of the war with 150/100octane on the same engine. Phew, totally managed to keep my plane nerding out to a minimum on this one amirite
The aqueduct of Segovia is more than 2000 years old and was still bringing fresh water to the city back in the 80s (of course it wasn't the main source of water the city got, not even the 10th on the line but is worth mentioning it was still in use). Coruña (in the North West) has a lighthouse that dates around the same time that is still in use nowadays too. And those are not even the oldest structures in Spain
Belgium has many buildings like the city hall in Leuven. Look up "grand place Brussels" or "ghent old town" or "bruges old town". We are proud of our old buildings and many are on a protected buildings list. And at the same time we love innovation and going a little outside the norm like the port authority building in Antwerp for example.
15:40 I live near Leuven and often pass there, it is a beautiful building with incredible details, but sometimes you don't even notice it when you pass there every day.
@4:00 Completely agree that the mixture of old and new side-by-side is often amusing. For instance, the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East in London was built in c.1100 and is now surrounded by skyscrapers. There are still fragments of the Roman wall that once circled the city too. So much of Europe is like that.
“In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the Post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.”
In Spain the end of the Middle Age is the Discovery of América, in 1492, the 12 of Octover. In the rest of countries is the fall of Constantinople. Sorry for my bad english. I am spaniard.
And then think about all the many buildings built during Roman empire and they still stand. Romans knew how to build sturdy constructions thats for sure. 🤣
Belgium is so underrated, Leuven, Ghent, Dinant... And the obvious but extremely touristy Bruges. Brussels is fine too, but can be skipped because the other cities in the country do it better.
Leuven Town Hall was made this way because Brussels went BIG, they couldn't stay behind. Always competition between Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp for bigger, more sculpture, richer, more gold.
People worldwide build with materials that are readily available and in NA that is wood in a lot of places. But they definitely could work on their building quality in NA.
@@icoborgWhich was owed to building fleets. Denmark has recently re-grown the oaks they had planted for more ships... However, Europe actually has trees. Sheep are often employed to keep a tree free landscape like the Yorkshire Dales or Lüneburger Heide.
Haha. That’s true. In fact in NA houses are meant to be disposable within 15 years or so, because Americans are moving a lot, no maintenance needed, just dispose it off so the new landowner can demolish the structure and build a new house on top of it. If you don’t want it or need it, leave it. Like the cars which you can find everywhere in the woods. That’s why the car channels are so popular. There is no competition simply because there’s a lot of cars sitting to rot everywhere, a sad culture.
there are literally thousands of very old and decorated buildings in hundreds of cities in europe. you couldn't see them irl in a lifetime even if you saw one every minute for 50 years
In Croatia where I live in the Split area has a mix of Roman Empire and medieval architecture. The city centre is basically a palace of a Roman Emperor. Although not as much in its original state but still a lot of it still can be seen. Its a bit over 1700 years old. It still blows my mind although i am used to see it almost on daily basis 😂
Hey, first of all, love your videos. I'm one of the lucky citizens of Leuven, who can admire the beautiful town hall in person. Let me tell you, it is even more impressive in person. The statues you see are about 1 meter in height. The facade contains about 149 statues of important people from the city: Scholars, artists, historical figures from Leuven, figures symbolizing municipal freedoms, patron saints of parishes, rulers of Leuven (mayors), Counts of Leuven, Dukes of Brabant and also kings of Belgium. The 6 towers contain 87 statues of biblical figures. During the year, the town hall is used to marry people, receptions and other official occasions. During Christmas season, it is beautifully decorated with Christmas lights which creates an unbelievable magical atmosphere. The town hall on it's own is already beautiful but it is situated at the "Grote Markt" ("Great Market" square) and is surrounded by other beauty. For example the St. Peter's Church which is directly across the town hall, beautiful restaurants and bars in medieval/renaissance style architecture and the stunning "Tafelrond - The Fourth" ("Round Table - The Fourth") hotel/restaurant that almost looks like a smaller (less detailed) version of the town hall (with "The Fourth" referring to the fourth purpose or third reallocation of the building). It is also very close (around 100 meters) to the "Oude Markt" ("Old Market" square), which almost entirely exists out of catering establishments or bars and is also know as "The longest bar in the world". The interior of the town hall is also very beautiful. And I was lucky to be able to visit it this summer, because the interior is now closed for 5 years for renovations. Let me know if you are maybe interested in more and I can probably send you some pictures of the interior and outside, now that it is beautifully decorated with Christmas lights!
Here in the UK my brother-in-law is a Master Thatcher. He has re-thatched countless old buildings over the years, mainly cottages, but some have been from the 1500s.
16:00 , I live near Leuven and have seen this city hall multiple times. It's even more impressive in real life. You should look up how it looks during Christmas, very beautiful. I've always called this the over-decorated cake, due to the massive amount of details. It containes 236 individual statues and recently it got renovated with a price tag of 19million euros.
8:00 Although only very few remains to this day, back in the 12th-13th century there used to be around an HUNDRED of towers in the city, if you go to google and type "bologna reconstruction" you can see how it used to look like and its freaking awesome. It was basically the Manhattan of the Middle Ages.
That mural on the blank facade is located in Poznań (Poland) between Rondo (Roundabout) Śródka and Ostrów Tumski (its an isle district). The interesting thing here is that those blank facades you may see sometimes in Poland are due to WW2 destruction. Some buildings had to be teared down and the blank wall you see is the separating wall between 2 buildings. This part of the old buildings does not fall under the law of monument conservation. This makes it so popular for murals since it doesnt need to comply with any conservation laws. Something that has become very popular in Poland is that companies will sponsor beautiful murals in exchange of incorporated / small logos in the murals. Its a win for everyone: The city gets prettier since it loses those ugly blank spaces, so the general public benefits. The city council doesnt need to pay or pretty much do anything for the city to become prettier. The owners of the buildings dont need to pay for it and the value of the building goes up. Artists get free space, tools and resources to make publicly available art and more often than not they get paid for it too. Companies get for cheap advertising space and good PR like in the example you showed - Terravita is a chocolate manufacturer. It saves money and resources, because the alternative is cloning the front facade onto this blank wall for an absurd amount of money while there is always the possibility that at some point the building that stood their might be rebuild sooner or later what would be waste of money and resources. This is society at its peak. Everyone gets along. Everyone wins. PS: There are hundreds if not thousands legal murals like this in Poland. PS2: My friend Karol actually took part in the creation of this particular mural in Poznań.
As a Croat who lives in Croatia I am daily surrounded by Roman architecture and of medieval. We Europeans collectively can say we have A LOT OF ART in our streets. Which i think is very very cool and even I discover new stuff all the time in the place I live and it isnt as big as thos biiiig european cities. The coolest thing is that you can find a roman amphitheatre in Pula which is one of the few best preserved ones. Concerts are held there. Avril lavigne played there this summer. Imagine Dragons were there, I think Robbie Williams as well and others. But the fusion of different historical eras and todays modern architecture is great and interesting. I live for this cultural and architectual heritage we have. 😊
13:30 And it's still very much in use. :) Last year, when I went to Leuven with my camera, the moment that I was taking a picture of the Town Hall, a newly wed couple exited the door. :)
@@gehtdichnixan3200 They still build the old twin cylinder 3 wheeler, to order only but does use a modern Japanese twin cylinder motorcycle engine. Not a great Ncap rating though.
As a european I kind of find the looks of shock and stunned silence kind of funny. But it also does remind me that what we have almost allover is really kind of special, it sometimes get forgotten when living in it every day and thats really a shame. One thing I have found when visiting friends in different cities of europe, looking up really is a good idea. There are so many buildings that have details up at the roof that one never notice if just walking along looking at the shops, quite a few of my friends have said "wow I never noticed that and I lived her for years" all because I cant help but look up and point out things.
Something I remember from my French teacher in high school is to always look at the first floor and up (i.e. second floor and up for Americans). Even in shopping streets with bland multi-national storefronts, a lot of nice architecture is often going in above that commercial-looking ground floor in European cities. I never learned much French I'm afraid, but practical advice like that makes up for it.
I'm not from across the pond but another killer or older buildings is probably shopping mall establishments I would wager. Granted they are often put up on the outskirts of population centers so maybe they largely end up popping up elsewhere but.. yeah. Commercial developments ... well there's a Swedish word - Förfula - as far as I can determine there isn't a direct translation but if I had to make up a word it would be uglify. As in to make things uglier. Even if you like modern architecture malls are, by and large in my experience, just shallow, obnoxious and soulless hunks of glass and steel that are built to purpose - Mass consumption - rather than with aesthetic concerns for the general area in mind.
Many cities have minimum parking requirements for buisinesses, so it is impossible to open one without tearing down neighboring (old) buildings for parking facilities. It's a shame, since it really 'uglifies' and deminishes the reasons to go downtown...
@@la-go-xy I live not far from the Roman city of Bath in the UK. The solution there is the out of town park-and-ride bus service, which works brilliantly.
Yes, these wooden and cob houses exist everywhere in France, I myself live in this type of house, it was built according to municipal archives at the end of the Hundred Years War (between France and England) around the 1450s but fortunately with the comfort of the 21st century.😊😊
One big problem with medieval cities was that the buildings were very close to each other and mostly built from wood, so one can imagine what happened when a house fire started. I grew up in Finland's second oldest city, which suffered from several big fires over the centuries and the last big one was in 1760. At that time 2/3 of the town burnt down, so even though the town was founded in the 14th century, very few buildings are older than 250 years and the Old Town is only a very small part of the city today.
The painter Jheronimus Bosch painted hell so very well because he saw 1/3 of his town go up in flames around 1490. Though roofs should already have tiles and no flame-able covers.
It is irritating how some people generalize their little niche as the world norm. Do you think the majority of medieval cities were built like in Finland? Please visit the cities that mattered on those times, they are way south.
Yep, I been living my whole life in the oldest city in Finland which suffered couple of huge fires too, and basically burned down whole city, there is one museum area with the old medieval buildings still that survived the fires, Turku Cathedral is also one of the oldest buildings in Finland (there is few other ones that are older), although it started as wooden building, burned and rebuilt etc few times, also Turku Castle too. They are both like 700-800 years old
Many houses were wood frame in Germany, even those of wealthy merchants... London is known to have burnt down... However, churches were often of stone, sometimes brick. Somewhat later, rich people in middle Europe often built from stone to impress. You might find more old wood frame buildings in smaller towns where war and fires had not hit that much.
You should have a look at Portuguese architecture, not only Portugal was one of the only countries who wasn't bombed during WWII, but Lisbon was also the First town built to resist Earthquakes ! It Inspired Japanese, as there was a Japanese representation , in Lisbon, at that time! +Portugal has it's own unique styles of architecture!
As a Portuguese citizen, I agree. Our architecture can and is very unique. From the stone houses of Tras-os -Montes to the Monastery of Jeronimos there are very different styles. Also, when any old buildings are at risk of collapsing, either have to rebuild and keep the original facade or build a new building and copy the original front, using the same materials and techniques. Very cool way to preserve our own heritage.
@@florjanbrudar692 But Barcelona is so much more than that. It is not even only Gaudí. Lots of amazing "modernism" builduings from severel architects. I love the city a lot!
@@nbarrio Also the gothic part of Barcelona, wich has very nice cathedrals nd castle like buildings, I love to visit those places when I travel to Barcelona.
I live not far from Leuven . Leuven is situated at about 27 kilometers east from Brussels . End of september I visited the interior of the town hall before they closed for a few years. They do renovation works during several years. In Leuven you have also a beautiful university library . Leuven has one of the oldest universities in Europe. President Hoover of the U.S.A. searched sponsors to rebuilt the library of Leuven after the first world war because the Germans had put the library on fire . That's why the place at the right side of the library is still called " Hooverplace". Leuven is also known as the beer city. The head office of biggest brewery of the world is located in Leuven. It is A.B. Inbev ('Anheuser Busch Inbev) The brewery of Stella Artois is in Leuven but they brew also beers like Leffe, Hoegaerden, Karmeliet, Jupiler, Kwak, Corona,Victoria ,Belle Vue,, the American beer Anheuser Busch and many other beers inside and outside Belgium; Leuven is also known to have the longest bar of the world. At the "old market" there are about 45 bars(cafe's). The second large university hospital of the world "Gasthuisberg" is also located in Leuven.In 2022 they had about 9963 staff members.
Check the "Gran place" of Brussels next, almost in the same style of Leuven's town hall but a full square with a lot of gothic building. Called by some (including me) the most beautiful square in the world
@GianniDN yes I am Belgian. For me, who comes out of Wallonia it could be one of our city. My home town, Namur has a very old citadel near the city center between two river, I find it quite beautiful. Otherwise there are also Dinant, Bouillon, la roche-en-ardenne, Tournai,... Those are the less known ones i don't know if it rings a bell
@ I think it was a French name he mentioned. We actually visted several places in Wallonia before going to Tomorrowland. It was stunning and the people were so friendly. My friends and me got even invited at a barbeque of strangers and we could stay for the night. We were actually lost, we walked so long that we couldn’t find our car back, and these people helped us and invited us. Amazing memories. I really love Belgium and lots of people speak Italian.
@@GianniDN yes I do speak a tiny bit of italian and can understand some too ! For the french name, we have the bad habit of translating the names of the cities in French so it does not help a lot 🫤 Well, you'll just have to visit the whole of Belgium then
Libraries have a significant place in Finnish culture and architecture: "AALTO - Official Trailer", "Alvar Aalto. The most famous nordic architect. Vyborg library project" and "The Most Popular Stool of All Time | Behind The HYPE: Stool 60". Discussing the architectural sights in Helsinki: "15 Must-See Architecture in the City Centre of Helsinki, Finland". On more traditional building style: "Oldest Log Cabin in America for Sale in New Jersey", "Traditional Finnish Log House Building Process" and "Traditional finnish log house 1988 and the same house 2017".
The saddest part is that costed billions (recalculated to today's currency), today when we can made such ornaments and statues by several technologies from various material for price of dirt, we build flat sterile boxes.
Thanks for sharing the picture of the Chicago building. I really like that it delivers on one idea - the padradox idea of fluidity in a building - very well and still the building seems functional. Love the video. Check out: * Anything by Gaudi (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell), * the 2000 year old concrete (! Yes concrete can last 2000 years if its opus caementicium) dome of the Patheon in Rome * Versailles Castle and its gardens, the one castle all European Kings tried to copy (but failed, due to lack of funds)
Paris is a relatively young city compared to other cities that features lots of middle age house of other official building way older. There are very few remain from the middle ages in Paris. In my town here in the Loire valley, a whole district in the city center dates back to the end of middle ages and renaissance periods. We have hundreds of houses like those two Parisian houses. Most of Paris center is like 1800´s century, which is very new for us. Some monument, like Notre Dame and other churches is 800 years old or more, but most of it is 19th century. That said the oldest building of Paris are the roman baths, about 1700 years old. In Lyon, the whole historic old town dates back of the renaissance, which also many roman ruins. In the south, there are hundreds of villages and cities that are fully from the middle ages, or older. Cities like Nimes or Arles are still full of almost intact roman buildings (arenas, theaters, temples, arches, etc.) dating back from 2000 years ago or more.
Leuven town hall: I passed this building on a daily basis for 5 years during university. I got used to it, but seeing it again after 25 years (living on the other side of Belgium) I have to say that it really is impressive. In my time tho it was totally black, guess they got some maintenance done with my taxes, they did a good job.
When you get a chance to visit Europe, Belgium has some great architecture (indeed, in Brussels many buildings have a plaque with information about the architect) - you’ll particularly like Antwerp, Ghent and Brugge. And hey, if you get to Stockholm, I’d be happy to show you around!
In the Middle Ages, in some European Countries, houses were taxed according to their façades' dimension. That's why in Porto, Portugal and in Ameterdam we can find Pencil-Thin houses. Featuring several Stories and a quite deep structure. Usually they were built within the walls of cities and in important commercial areas. That's why rhey were very thin -- to afford more city space. Over the centuries zillions were destroyed giving place to more conventionel buildings. New Legislation was passed years ago. Accordingly, the derelict buildings must be rebuilt preserving the original style. Consequently, here in Porto, Portugal and in Amesterdan, Holland, a handfull was preserved. Acctually, 2 handfulls -- we are alluding to buildings in different Cities and Countries.....
If you'd want a taste of how some of these buildings (like the town hall in Belgium) look like from inside, I suggest 2 videos from channel "So Chateaux (in English)", the videos are "Tour of an Architectural Masterpiece: Peles Castle in Romania" and "In the SAME FAMILY for OVER 700 YEARS ! Tour of the CASTLE with the OWNER", these will most likely blow your mind (in a good way) 🙂 Great video as always, cheers from Europe!
It is said that Leuven build their magnificent townhall when it was still in the running to become the capital city of (South-)Brabant, however it was Brussels that got that title in the end. As for Dubrovnik, some parts of it might be recognized by viewer who watched Game of Thrones, since shots of King's Landing were actually from Dubrovnik.
One place that I found interesting was when I was in Bilbao working, and it was the Azkuna Zentroa building. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century for wine storage, but suffered a fire later, and never really had much done with it, but it had a very elaborately contructed exterior for simple wine storage. In the late 20th century, the interior was completely gutted out, and it was turned into a cultural centre, with a gym, swimming pool, library, shops, exposition hall, cinema, underground parking, restaurants and cafes, the whole lot, all with a very artistic modern feel, but keeping the original design on the exterior. I thought it was a great way to keep the architecture alive, but also give the building a modern use.
4:20 Limburg has a really nice and lively old town. On the hill over the town thrones the Saint George's Cathedral (since 1827 seat of a bishop which made the former collegiate church a cathedral); the first abbey church was built there in the 900s, extended in the 11th century and remodeled in the 13th century mostly in the current form. This landmark was the motive on the old 500 DM banknotes. 7:52 The leaning tower of Pisa is actually the Campanile or bell tower of the cathedral Santa Maria Assunta, while the leaning towers of Bologna belong to the still surviving family towers from the 12th century as each of the competing patrician clans in this city state. It is presumed that the construction of this forest of towers had to do with the investiture controversy between the Pope and the German-Roman Emperor as well as with the divide between the parties of Guelfi (follower of the Frankish-German House of Welf, Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony) and Ghibellini (follower of the Imperial House of Staufen, Dukes of Swabia, named after the town of Waiblingen near the hereditary seat of Hohenstaufen). Most of the towers were later demolished (some also fell down on their own); the two leaning ones are that of the Asinelli (97m high, built 1109-1116, probably then only about 60m high) and that of the Garisenda (48m high, built around 1110 to the height of 60m); a wooden bridge connecting both was destroyed in 1399 by a fire. 12:30 Dubrovnik was one of the places where they filmed Game of Thrones (mostly scenes set in King's Landing and some set in Qarth). It was first fortified in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the 7th century inhabitants of Epidaurum (20km to the South, destroyed by Slavic warriors) fled here. Later it became known as Ragusa (the Roman part, originally on an island) and Dubrovnik (a Slavic settlement on the coast); in the 12th century the dividing channel between island and main land was filled up. 1205-1358 the republic of Ragusa was a vassal of Venice, 1358 - 1526 they paid tribute to the crown of Croatia and Hungary, until 1718 to the Ottoman Empire. In 1806 the republic was seized by French troops, and in 1808 Marshal de Marmont declared the abolition of the republic and himself Duke of Ragusa in the French Illyrian provinces. In 1815 Ragusa became part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austrian Empire. 16:20 As an example: Maintenance for the Ulm Minster (the church with the still highest church tower in the world) is done by the "Münster-Bauhütte" (minster construction hut) ruclips.net/video/RoZtQmlweJc/видео.html, ("Bauhütte" was in medieval times the name for the construction office for a minster or a cathedral), currently led by the 21th minster master builder, Dr. Heidi Vormann. Since sandstone was used for the intricate details, they are permanently replacing weathered pieces. The work is partly funded by donations, partly with subsidies by the city and the state (the latter mostly for bigger renovation programs).
Stopped off at Limburg about 10 years ago whilst on a road trip. Really beautiful town, like stepping into a chocolate box painting. There was a beach party on in the town centre, along with lots of sand being dumped on the streets to create a town centre beach. And beer. Lots of beer
We have Church in Slovakia that was build in 9th-10th century (800-900). There used to be a city around but it completly disapeared and now it is only fields. Leuven is also nice, many buildings like that in Belgium.
i do not know about the maintenace of the leuven town hall .. but basically every gothic cathedral has a crew of stonemasons that do continuous rovving maintenance - one circuit around the entire cathedral every 15 years or so .. 8) - so basically you pay 10 or so well-paid stone masons year in year out - plus material .. plus the costs for occasional larger things like repairs to the roof and such
I first studied in the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven and then lived there for 15 years. The town hall is now a historic building and the new town hall is a very modern and minimalistic building on the ring road next to the train station. The old town hall is amazing in person - especially when the light hits it at sunrise/sunset or during Christmas the lights are done very well. Inside I've only been on the first floor when it was still used as the town hall and it was very underwhelming - administrative environment. Most of the artifacts were covered or removed for safety. I imagine now it's great.
Hey man! You might wanna look up 'Bokrijk, Limburg' in Belgium. It's an open air museum. They've kept it like it was in the 18th century 2nd half (so from 1750 onward) as a representation of what it used to be like. They also,have an instagram where they have some truely nice video's and pictures showing the domain.
The gorgeous town hall is in my city of Leuven and yes it is beautiful, I do recommend it during the christmas weeks because there's lights on it! Leuven is often overlooked when there's brussels, antwerp, bruges, gent etc but it is worth a visit! We have the longest bar of europe and stella artois was founded here. Fun fact about the city hall it was mirrored after brussels town hall but is 2 stories higher lol. Also the statues weren't on it until the 1800s because money ran out like 300 years before lol.
7:50 I’m from Bologna and can tell you more about the towers and the city in general. The taller one is called Torre degli Asinelli and the other one Torre Garisenda from the families who commissioned them. At that time the city was ruled by the most rich family and to dispute they builded towers and this two families decided that who builded the tallest tower would rule the city. The winner was the Asinelli family while the Garisenda lost because their tower start to lean during the construction ad they had to stop. Now there are only few towers, but in the past Bologna looked like New York because full of towers. Other interesting facts about the city: •The big building behind the towers is a church called Basilica di San Petronio. You can clearly see that is made of bricks, but if you look the facade is half marble and the rest bricks. This because during the construction were an economic crisis and they had to continue with bricks. •Under some streets there are canals and they can be visited and some of them are still visible. In the past Bologna was known like the second Venezia and was the biggest silk producer and how they fabricated it was so secret that there would be spies sent to find the secret. But unfortunately with the industrial revolution and a successful English spy Bologna lost its prestige. •Bologna has the largest number of kilometers of porticoes in the world with a total of 62km (~32,5 miles).
This is a timely video, as the refurbished cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris is officially reopening on 8th December, following the cathedral's gutting by fire in 2019. Btw, my best mate and roomie at junior school had his home in Wales, which I used to visit at least twice a year. It was initially a thrill to be eating breakfast at the table in his kitchen, in the old part of his house. It had been a kitchen since at least 1404. My youngest son's dorm whilst at senior school in Somerset was built in 1350!!
I live in Leuven and the upkeep is expensive, the old city hall is under restoration atm (2024). But that city hall is still in use for weddings and the tourisme bureau is there as well. I love the building in xmas time. It is fully decorated with lights
Leuven in Belgium is just around 50 miles away from my place. So maybe I could take some time to give you more pictures and also ask them how much it costs to maintain?
I'm from Leuven. The town hall was built between 1439 and 1469. It has 149 statues and is absolutely beautiful. Nowadays it's used for weddings and ceremonies. I can take hq pics and pm you if you want.
My last name originates from south-western France. There is a chateau there called Chateau de Serrant. We did a ancestry check and found that out we are possibly linked to the original family of the chateau.
Look at the Duomo of Milan in Italy, and look for the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (since 16 ottobre 1387) , which is the only one that has been maintaining the Duomo for years and years. However, it is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe
I'm from Leuven, great to see you like our city hall :). We don't even look at it anymore, sad indeed :) Now I'm living elsewhere for a while and when I return to Leuven I start looking in awe again at it :)
I think every Belgian has visisted Leuven several times. It's the biggest university city of Belgium. 149 statues of famous historical peoples and religious figures. The old king Leopold 2 got recently removed because of the atrocities he commited in Congo. It's not the only interesting building in Leuven, the library and the university itself are pretty famous aswell. The library got burned down in the first world ware but got rebuild. The church also collapsed in ww1 and still bears the marks heavily. I'm from Mechelen/Malines, which has been the capital of the old netherlands under the rule of the Habsburg family. Our Catherdral is counted as the religious capital of Belgium. The Sint Rombouts Cathedral.
I was born and raised in Leuven and, like many locals, now work there in one of the city's many historic buildings. A 25-minute train ride takes you from Brussels Central station to Leuven station, where you are immediately immersed in the atmosphere of history and beautiful architecture. A short walk of 1 km (or bus) brings you from the station on the outskirts to the centre of this compact and cosy city: the Grote Markt with the beautiful town hall, the stately Sint Pieters church and many other historic buildings. Around the corner, you can sample one of the many Belgian beers on the Old Market, also known as the longest bar in Europe, because of all the pubs lining the square. Also called the capital of beer, Leuven is the hometown of brewery Stella Artois and also of the oldest university in the Low Lands. There is much more: Beguinage (14th century and still used by the university, even inhabited!), Park Abbey, the university library, the remains of the old city walls, many churches, old and new art, and so on. If you want to discover the wonderful atmosphere of an old, lively Flemish city outside the atmosphere of big cities like Antwerp and Ghent, come to Leuven and enjoy!
Happy to see Leuven town hall in there. I have spent most of my life in that town and still visit regularly. The town hall is absolutely beautiful. One of the few buildings still standing in the town from before world war I. Almost the complete town was burned down to the ground during world war I.
Leuven is awsome. Beautifull and buzzing. Towns with old universities or breweries from the middle ages that are still going strong are always great places to visit. Leuven has both 😊.
Hi IWr ! Wow, yes I confirm ! The Town Hall of Louvain (Leuwen in Flemish...) is quite a shock the first time you arrive on this vast square lined with cafes all side by side. But I think it's almost more impressive and fabulous in the evening when it's lit up. It's as stunning as Bruges or the Grand Place in Brussels...
If you're ever in Belgium and you like buildings like the one in Leuven, you will also want to visit Ghent, and Bruges, which is much smaller, and has a cozier flair. The capital, Brussels, also has impressive architecture. This style is mainly a thing in the Flemish part of Belgium. The Wallon region in the south also has some charming cities, with a different style, like Dinant and Namur and even Liege (which, honestly, looks kinda ugly from the outside, but is beautiful once you're in the city). There's also lots of beautiful small towns.
3:20 That's a Morgan Plus 8. They aren't old necessarily. They just look that way. You can buy them fresh from the factory. This one for instance has a factory-fitted third brake light.
I love your reaction to Leuven, I see the town hall almost every day :). Fun fact, every one of the 149 statues on the city hall in Leuven is unique and is representative of something. Some of them are well known people, others have names that were lost to time. It's one of the best examples of the flamboyant gothic architecture of the Burgundian era of Flanders. The city halls of Brussels, Ghent and Oudenaarde have a similar design. You should definitely check out more of Belgium!
We went to Leuven in 2014 and then again in 2015 sat in a bar opposite the town hall that had the most variety of beers! And spent the afternoon just chilling and admiring this building ❤️ also Stella Artois brewery is in Leuven 🤣
Leuven is a university city, a massive amount of the population during the academic year are students. The University has over 60k students yearly, many of which actually live there while studying. The city itself had just over 104k inhabitants in November 2024 (students not counted in those latter numbers) Sources: publicly available numbers provided by the University and the City, respectively. It's one of the major universities in Belgium, so it's not uncommon for anyone that has studied here to have studied, and lived, there.
Leuven, my home town, got married in that Town Hall. It's gorgeous on the inside as well. The building will undergo huge maintenance works and accessibility upgrades for about 4 years starting soon, so sadly it will be surrounded by scaffolding for a very long time. Every statue is different with famous historical people. For example, you got Mercator (from the world map) who was a professor at the university, he's holding a glove as well). These statues reguire a lot of maintenance and are not the originals, the originals are kept in the attic. These get replaced quite regulary as they get battered by the outside conditions.
Born and raised in Leuven, I've seen the old town hall so many times but it is still so amazing to look at. Right now it is being renovated until 2029 costing 19million euros.
Dubrovnik walls have been constructed from 13th to 17th century and are about 2km long. Fun fact...how did High council(which ruled the Republic of Raguza/Dubrovnik) get the stone for the walls and fortresses? well if you wanted to come to the city your ticket was to bring a stone. if you was a smaller man you would bring smaller stone and if you were larger,then larger stone. one very important thing for you as american and your countrymen....Dubrovnik was the first state that recognized your independence from british crown. so you can say Croatia recognized you first. and there are so much cool things about Dubrnovnik...it had sewage and running water in every home 900y before France and Britain for example. the first maritime insurance for trading ships was in Dubrovnik,about 150y before Lloyd,2nd oldest pharmacy in EUrope(still working) is in Dubrovnik,it had fire department and fire hazard rules,how to build homes established in 13th century,it had diplomats in 80 counties in the world,consulate...it had legalized prostitution and orphanage centuries before anyone else,...and so much more. i am not admiring it because it is our,croatian, and of our history but if every country in the world today would be governed as Dubrovnik was world would be so much better and happier place. Dubrovnik invented quarantine and after Korčula(the city on the same named island,ofent known as lesser Dubrnovnik) it was the the first republic to abolish slavery in begining of 14th century. Korčula as city did it in 1274...i think. www.imdb.com/title/tt5934040/ find this on netflix amazon or where ever you can find it...History of Dubrovnik,documentary film...amazing...those who visited the city will appreciate it even more after watching this documentary series...i think it is in 8 episodes
Actually i was born in Leuven. As you can see, every nice has a statue. But each of the statue's pedestals in turn depicts a scene. If you want detailed pictures, hit me up.
4:04 is where i life and the oldest house there is from 1289, the whole old town is like that. I even know someone who lifes in one of these today. Limburg old town together with the kathedral is really worth a visit.
You should look at pictures of the Leuven City Hall salons. They have been renovated for over a year they are decked in gold leaf et all... Maintenance is actually ok. The whole facade was calcified during the last renovation (it used to be black from exhaust fumes until they banned cars) so it stays nice and white for longer now. The building gets used for receptions, monthly city council meetings, marriages (salons) The coming years it will be renovated so it's accessible for the public. You'll even be able to visit the attic where the old and replaced statues are stored. Upkeep is simple really, gets cleaned all day and every week they polish the floors ;) (when I say I worked there for years, I mean I worked there for 20 years.)
Statues weren't added until the 19th century after Victor Hugo (of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables fame) wrote to the city council complaining about the empty spaces on the facade... Anyway, for a full history of the building, visit in 2028 ;-)
Yeah, I have passed along the Leuven town hall plenty of times. Actually just last Saturday. Perhaps outrageous for you, I haven't even looked up and was more interested, how crowded the Burger King around the corner is 😅
FunFact 1: Leuven Town Hall was built before Columbus discovered America. FunFact2: Leuven is headquarters to Anheuser-Busch InBev ... (InBev bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008)
Hungarian here, Halászbástya (aka Fishermans Bastion) 11:35 not so old, it was built in 1895-1902. You should take a look at the Matthias Church next to it, which is older, or not so far from it the Castle. Both is much older than the Fishermans Batsion. Also Dubrovnik is one of my favorite cities, that old town part is beautiful.
About Leuven Stadhuis (town hall). You can of course take a walk around the entire building using Google Earth street view (and also take a look inside). Incidentally, the same applies to most of the places you showed in this video 😉😁. Now just don't forget to eat from time to time when wandering around Europe 😉🙂. Terribly sorry, but unfortunately I don't know of any feature in GE that can help with that, other than possibly pointing out local restaurants.
:-) Leuven Town hall. i was born and raised half a mile from there. I passed it several times a day for over 20 years. Didn’t know people would find it so amazing.
19:20 regarding the thin houses. I don't know about this particular one, but in some cities in Europe (like Amsterdam for example), property taxes were paid by the width of the property. The wider your house, the more taxes you pay. Alot of thin houses get wider in the back. It's just the facade that is thin to avoid taxes.
Since it is the town hall in Leuven where I live. I got married in this building. It is a fantastic building but the whole area around it is nice. You should also look up the library of Leuven which was reconstructed with American money after the world war it also looks fantastic. And Leuven is the birthplace of Stella Artois so we have the beer to go with all of this which we drink on the old square of which we say it is the longest bar in belgium as there are cafés all around the old square. And it is about 100 meters from the town hall.
I'm a Belgian guy living in Bruges and travelled to about 40 different cities across Europe. When you grow up in places like that you don't realise how spoiled you are untill some American on the internet reminds you about it. Half of the stuff you showed I wouldn't even look twice because it's normal to me. The last one in India did impress me a lot. Stunning! For me Rome left the biggest impression.
When you check the Leuven Building closely, it is full of statues of different size from big to small ones with very clear details on the carvings. There is a small statue of a man about 1 foot tall wearing the medieval clothes. If you go under that statue, you can see that he is not wearing any underwear and you will see the private parts in very clear details. That is how intricate that buliding is. BTW I am from Bruxelles Belgium.
In Denmark we have lots of old buildings too. When some of the buildings had to be removed they rebuild them in: Den gamle by, Arhus/ The old town, Arhus. There are lots of videos from the old town here on YT.
I live in a small Town in Germany. Our small Castle Ruin here is first Time written in ancient Documents in Year 1077 Also a few Houses arround it have Years written on it from 1300-1500
@@IWrocker With the stone being vulnerable to acid rain and sooth and other industrial waste in the air, it has to be constantly repaired and replaced. At least one corner of Cologne Cathedral is constantly in scaffolding, because of the ongoing stone work. And if this corner is repaired, the scaffolding moves to the next, so you have an eternal construction site.
Buildings and houses in the UK often date back to Norman 11th century times, except in the City of London, the old Roman walled City, which had all but one building in the old city destroyed in the Great Fire. The oldest buildings a mere 4 centuries old. Sir Christopher Wren's master plan for a well planned out city came to nought as owners just rebuilt on the old sites but in brick and stone as wood, wattle and daub and thatched roofs banned. He did get his way in parts, mainly around St. Pauls and a few of the churches he rebuilt. The Monument to the Great Fire is 207 ft tall, the exact distance from its base to the shop in Pudding Lane where the fire started in a Bakers. It was possible to climb it to the top but now closed due to Health and Safety Legislation as a very steep spiral staircase.
This is why, whenever we vacation abroad, we allow a significant part of each day unplanned, just to be able to stroll and gaze at the city. One of my favourites is to stroll around near the end of the afternoon or early evening during the magic hour when the lights are coming up and people are starting to relax from the working day. Just beautiful.
Yeah. I do the same. Italy is especially great for doing that. In Rome I had a feeling I was in the museum all the time.
Nooo 😮 You need a minute schedule and then you have to visit at least 3 countries in one week 👍
Here in Sweden they have a law of "protection of cultural heritage buildings" They are not allowed to be defaced or changed. If they are to be renovated they have to be fixed keeping the heritage with "more or less" ORIGINAL material and style. If it is so bad that it has to for safety reasons be taken down it has to be rebuilt the same preserving as much of the old material as possible.
In the Netherlands it is the same and you get financial support from the government for maintenance. It's not enough though, so it's not for everyone.
Its good for the house but not for buyer because he cant do anything to his own building. Its not for everyone yes..
We have a similar system in the UK with Listed Buildings
I think it's the same in most countries.
Yep pretty standard rules for monumental buildings all over the EU
8:00 fun fact about thoses tower of Bologna; It is believed that the construction of those towers was merely a "flexxing" competition between two powerful families. There were a lot more towers, but I believe they all collapsed at some point, these two being the only remaining, and the in danger of collapsing aswell.
same as at San Gimignano, only 16 from the 72 are standing and it was a full "hold my beer" flex between powerful families XDDDD
Hahahah! I believe it... And I can even see it happening. Sitting in 1500's era in some cafeteria and getting to an argument with the "other rich guy" from same city. Well I'll build a huge tower. Really? I'll do even bigger tower. ❤😂
I think in various cities the local medieval governments decided to put some limits to the height of towers, to put a stop to the dangerous showcase/competition of economic/political wealth the towers were.
Same with the skyscrapers in NYC! Mine is bigger! Oh yeah? Watch this!
But when you get to a certain height, it costs more per square feet to get higher. Just big dick competition.
There are still 24 towers in Bologna standing. The two most famous ones are just the tallest one and the 4th tallest among those 24 surviving ones. They were built by many families from two political factions.
Cologne Cathedral in Germany has an annual building maintenance budget of 6.6 million €. Which is only half the story, as they have to have people trained with historical methods to replace things.
At least the construction "ended"* in 1880, so there's newer documentation... but it began in 1248 (with construction halting 1528-1823), so the old stuff... not so much luck.
* it's one of those places where being done at one end means you can begin at the other end again. Local legend is the world ends if the cathedral is ever really finished.
Wow that's a huge amount of money, although its a truly spectacular Cathedral!
We have a similar system where I am with `Historic Environment Scotland`.
They train all their own apprentices in traditional methods of construction, solely to work on historic buildings and monuments.
To elaborate, they have the "Dombauhütte", which is kind of their own construction company which is exclusively busy with the maintenance of the cathedral. You can book a guided tour through and over the roofs of the cathedral where one of the stone masons or architects will show you around and explain about the history and the architecture. Depending on the specialty of your guide you get a different perspective. It's a spectacular tour which partially leads you through the spires on the outside. Not recommended if you have trouble with vertigo.
Used to visit Cologne Cathedral annually when living in West Germany in the 80s. What a beautiful building..
Cologne Cathedral would be an entire video on it's own.
That is i think even cheap, in my country Slovakia it would cost more maybe 😅😂
Dubrovnik walls were built from the 13th to 17th centuries. They were reinforced in the 15th century when the gunpowder came into Europe. They endured a lot. Most recently the bombardment in the recent independence war. I guess the old builders did a damn good job.
There was an old Pub called the Crooked House in Staffordshire , it was demolished by its new owners without permission
Because of this they have been taken to court and could go to prison if they do not rebuild it in exactly the same conditions it was in before the demolition, they must include as much as possible of the materials of the original building
YES!!
They should go to jail anyway, they know it was a historic place.
Stuff like that happens everywhere. Here in Switzerland, in Gstaad there was a protected Grandhotel from the height of the Belle-Epoque, still with all it's original Details. Because they didn't got Permission to take it down for a newbuild, they just blew it up early in the Morning of a Saturday (Friday evening - Monday morning nobody works Construction in Switzerland). There was just a huge Bang on Saturday morning and one and a half Years later the stupidly big and ugly newbuild opened with huge Festivites...
The massive, massive Ticket they had to pay, didn't bother them at all, they didn't even flinch at it. It was calculated it into the Rebuildingbudget already beforehand...
In Utrecht they just finished a 5 year restauration project of the Dom Tower, build between 1321 and 1382. It's way smaller (by volume) and less intricate than the Leuven City Hall. Its restauration cost €37.4 million, and amazingly that was €1.5 million under budget. During the restauration before this one they put a real size image of the Apollo rocket on the scaffolding to promote the 1986 space expo that was in Utrecht.
The white car at 3:15 is a Morgan +4, a company famous for their roadsters and their unique partial wood frame/chassis construction. This construction method has a lot of historical significance since the British fighter plane "Spitfire" (considered most famous/integral plane to defend Britain in WW2) was built on a wooden frame with a carburetted supercharged 27L (1.650 cubic inches) V12, the Rolls-Royce Merlin making 1000hp in 1936 on 87octane aviation fuel, 1300hp from 1940 onward and closer to 1800hp at the end of the war with 150/100octane on the same engine.
Phew, totally managed to keep my plane nerding out to a minimum on this one amirite
The houses on one side of the Street in my English village, were built in the 1500's.
All the old stuff is on the other side 😁
And soon to be an islam village my god what is happening in the UK ?? Dear lord
@@dutchtileworks1332 Wonderfully on topic too... 🙄
@@dutchtileworks1332 Hello Cleetus!
@@dutchtileworks1332 do you mean Islamic village?
The aqueduct of Segovia is more than 2000 years old and was still bringing fresh water to the city back in the 80s (of course it wasn't the main source of water the city got, not even the 10th on the line but is worth mentioning it was still in use). Coruña (in the North West) has a lighthouse that dates around the same time that is still in use nowadays too. And those are not even the oldest structures in Spain
La torre de Hércules. My brother was just there this weekend
Dubrovnik is the place where the scenes in Kings landing (Game of Thrones) were filmed.
Yes, and some American tourist was presistant to find out phone number of constructor who is dead for more than half century 😂
@@mujopasuljic6471 for real?
Mostly CGI...
Valetta in Malta was also used for Kings Landing.
Belgium has many buildings like the city hall in Leuven. Look up "grand place Brussels" or "ghent old town" or "bruges old town". We are proud of our old buildings and many are on a protected buildings list. And at the same time we love innovation and going a little outside the norm like the port authority building in Antwerp for example.
15:40 I live near Leuven and often pass there, it is a beautiful building with incredible details, but sometimes you don't even notice it when you pass there every day.
@4:00 Completely agree that the mixture of old and new side-by-side is often amusing. For instance, the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East in London was built in c.1100 and is now surrounded by skyscrapers. There are still fragments of the Roman wall that once circled the city too. So much of Europe is like that.
“In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the Post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.”
In Spain the end of the Middle Age is the Discovery of América, in 1492, the 12 of Octover.
In the rest of countries is the fall of Constantinople.
Sorry for my bad english. I am spaniard.
Now explain concept of century to American viewers because I know for a fact most Americans don't know what century is or rather how long it is.
Yeah, "medieval" is kind of useless as s limiter. Especialyl if you try to apply it outside Europe, but at least that can't happen here.
In short, those houses are at least 500-600 years old.
And then think about all the many buildings built during Roman empire and they still stand. Romans knew how to build sturdy constructions thats for sure. 🤣
Leuven town hall is amazing. And hardly any tourists around.... love it!
Ok we going.
Belgium is so underrated, Leuven, Ghent, Dinant... And the obvious but extremely touristy Bruges. Brussels is fine too, but can be skipped because the other cities in the country do it better.
Leuven Town Hall was made this way because Brussels went BIG, they couldn't stay behind.
Always competition between Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp for bigger, more sculpture, richer, more gold.
It is amazing, but personally for me it is a bit overkill in detail and I cant look at it with trypophobia
I visited Leuven after Tomorrowland . Such a beautiful little city an enjoyed the bars very much 😅
For people still building with 2 by 4s and some plywood, everything in Europe is WOW !
People worldwide build with materials that are readily available and in NA that is wood in a lot of places. But they definitely could work on their building quality in NA.
@@SilverSmrfr right because in europe from 1000 (a random date) there were no trees
@@icoborgWhich was owed to building fleets. Denmark has recently re-grown the oaks they had planted for more ships...
However, Europe actually has trees. Sheep are often employed to keep a tree free landscape like the Yorkshire Dales or Lüneburger Heide.
Haha. That’s true. In fact in NA houses are meant to be disposable within 15 years or so, because Americans are moving a lot, no maintenance needed, just dispose it off so the new landowner can demolish the structure and build a new house on top of it. If you don’t want it or need it, leave it. Like the cars which you can find everywhere in the woods. That’s why the car channels are so popular. There is no competition simply because there’s a lot of cars sitting to rot everywhere, a sad culture.
There are old buildings all over Europe, for example the Kammerzell house in my town which dates from 1420.
there are literally thousands of very old and decorated buildings in hundreds of cities in europe. you couldn't see them irl in a lifetime even if you saw one every minute for 50 years
In Croatia where I live in the Split area has a mix of Roman Empire and medieval architecture. The city centre is basically a palace of a Roman Emperor. Although not as much in its original state but still a lot of it still can be seen. Its a bit over 1700 years old. It still blows my mind although i am used to see it almost on daily basis 😂
Hey, first of all, love your videos. I'm one of the lucky citizens of Leuven, who can admire the beautiful town hall in person.
Let me tell you, it is even more impressive in person. The statues you see are about 1 meter in height. The facade contains about 149 statues of important people from the city: Scholars, artists, historical figures from Leuven, figures symbolizing municipal freedoms, patron saints of parishes, rulers of Leuven (mayors), Counts of Leuven, Dukes of Brabant and also kings of Belgium. The 6 towers contain 87 statues of biblical figures.
During the year, the town hall is used to marry people, receptions and other official occasions. During Christmas season, it is beautifully decorated with Christmas lights which creates an unbelievable magical atmosphere.
The town hall on it's own is already beautiful but it is situated at the "Grote Markt" ("Great Market" square) and is surrounded by other beauty. For example the St. Peter's Church which is directly across the town hall, beautiful restaurants and bars in medieval/renaissance style architecture and the stunning "Tafelrond - The Fourth" ("Round Table - The Fourth") hotel/restaurant that almost looks like a smaller (less detailed) version of the town hall (with "The Fourth" referring to the fourth purpose or third reallocation of the building).
It is also very close (around 100 meters) to the "Oude Markt" ("Old Market" square), which almost entirely exists out of catering establishments or bars and is also know as "The longest bar in the world".
The interior of the town hall is also very beautiful. And I was lucky to be able to visit it this summer, because the interior is now closed for 5 years for renovations.
Let me know if you are maybe interested in more and I can probably send you some pictures of the interior and outside, now that it is beautifully decorated with Christmas lights!
Here in the UK my brother-in-law is a Master Thatcher. He has re-thatched countless old buildings over the years, mainly cottages, but some have been from the 1500s.
We had Master Thatcher's come up from England to thatch the roof of one of our pubs in Ayr. It was a like for like replacement on a b listed building.
16:00 , I live near Leuven and have seen this city hall multiple times. It's even more impressive in real life. You should look up how it looks during Christmas, very beautiful. I've always called this the over-decorated cake, due to the massive amount of details. It containes 236 individual statues and recently it got renovated with a price tag of 19million euros.
8:00 Although only very few remains to this day, back in the 12th-13th century there used to be around an HUNDRED of towers in the city, if you go to google and type "bologna reconstruction" you can see how it used to look like and its freaking awesome. It was basically the Manhattan of the Middle Ages.
That mural on the blank facade is located in Poznań (Poland) between Rondo (Roundabout) Śródka and Ostrów Tumski (its an isle district).
The interesting thing here is that those blank facades you may see sometimes in Poland are due to WW2 destruction. Some buildings had to be teared down and the blank wall you see is the separating wall between 2 buildings. This part of the old buildings does not fall under the law of monument conservation. This makes it so popular for murals since it doesnt need to comply with any conservation laws. Something that has become very popular in Poland is that companies will sponsor beautiful murals in exchange of incorporated / small logos in the murals. Its a win for everyone:
The city gets prettier since it loses those ugly blank spaces, so the general public benefits.
The city council doesnt need to pay or pretty much do anything for the city to become prettier.
The owners of the buildings dont need to pay for it and the value of the building goes up.
Artists get free space, tools and resources to make publicly available art and more often than not they get paid for it too.
Companies get for cheap advertising space and good PR like in the example you showed - Terravita is a chocolate manufacturer.
It saves money and resources, because the alternative is cloning the front facade onto this blank wall for an absurd amount of money while there is always the possibility that at some point the building that stood their might be rebuild sooner or later what would be waste of money and resources.
This is society at its peak. Everyone gets along. Everyone wins.
PS: There are hundreds if not thousands legal murals like this in Poland.
PS2: My friend Karol actually took part in the creation of this particular mural in Poznań.
As a Croat who lives in Croatia I am daily surrounded by Roman architecture and of medieval.
We Europeans collectively can say we have A LOT OF ART in our streets.
Which i think is very very cool and even I discover new stuff all the time in the place I live and it isnt as big as thos biiiig european cities.
The coolest thing is that you can find a roman amphitheatre in Pula which is one of the few best preserved ones. Concerts are held there. Avril lavigne played there this summer. Imagine Dragons were there, I think Robbie Williams as well and others.
But the fusion of different historical eras and todays modern architecture is great and interesting.
I live for this cultural and architectual heritage we have. 😊
13:30 And it's still very much in use. :)
Last year, when I went to Leuven with my camera, the moment that I was taking a picture of the Town Hall, a newly wed couple exited the door. :)
the car is a morgan .. the old ones looked pretty much like that one but had wooden frames
The new ones still look like this, and they still use ashwood frames.
@@East-42 oh i did not now this that they still use wooden frames
@@gehtdichnixan3200 They still build the old twin cylinder 3 wheeler, to order only but does use a modern Japanese twin cylinder motorcycle engine. Not a great Ncap rating though.
As a european I kind of find the looks of shock and stunned silence kind of funny.
But it also does remind me that what we have almost allover is really kind of special, it sometimes get forgotten when living in it every day and thats really a shame.
One thing I have found when visiting friends in different cities of europe, looking up really is a good idea.
There are so many buildings that have details up at the roof that one never notice if just walking along looking at the shops, quite a few of my friends have said "wow I never noticed that and I lived her for years" all because I cant help but look up and point out things.
Something I remember from my French teacher in high school is to always look at the first floor and up (i.e. second floor and up for Americans). Even in shopping streets with bland multi-national storefronts, a lot of nice architecture is often going in above that commercial-looking ground floor in European cities. I never learned much French I'm afraid, but practical advice like that makes up for it.
Nearly all 'old' US city buildings were demolished to make way for the new Golden Calf: the automobile.
I'm not from across the pond but another killer or older buildings is probably shopping mall establishments I would wager. Granted they are often put up on the outskirts of population centers so maybe they largely end up popping up elsewhere but.. yeah. Commercial developments ... well there's a Swedish word - Förfula - as far as I can determine there isn't a direct translation but if I had to make up a word it would be uglify. As in to make things uglier.
Even if you like modern architecture malls are, by and large in my experience, just shallow, obnoxious and soulless hunks of glass and steel that are built to purpose - Mass consumption - rather than with aesthetic concerns for the general area in mind.
Many cities have minimum parking requirements for buisinesses, so it is impossible to open one without tearing down neighboring (old) buildings for parking facilities.
It's a shame, since it really 'uglifies' and deminishes the reasons to go downtown...
@@la-go-xy I live not far from the Roman city of Bath in the UK. The solution there is the out of town park-and-ride bus service, which works brilliantly.
@@mehitabel6564 and you have a public transport network, probably, so you can hop on anywhere in town to get everywhere without problems
@@la-go-xy Just make underground parking lots... oh, well, it's expensive...
Yes, these wooden and cob houses exist everywhere in France, I myself live in this type of house, it was built according to municipal archives at the end of the Hundred Years War (between France and England) around the 1450s but fortunately with the comfort of the 21st century.😊😊
One big problem with medieval cities was that the buildings were very close to each other and mostly built from wood, so one can imagine what happened when a house fire started. I grew up in Finland's second oldest city, which suffered from several big fires over the centuries and the last big one was in 1760. At that time 2/3 of the town burnt down, so even though the town was founded in the 14th century, very few buildings are older than 250 years and the Old Town is only a very small part of the city today.
The painter Jheronimus Bosch painted hell so very well because he saw 1/3 of his town go up in flames around 1490. Though roofs should already have tiles and no flame-able covers.
It is irritating how some people generalize their little niche as the world norm. Do you think the majority of medieval cities were built like in Finland? Please visit the cities that mattered on those times, they are way south.
Yep, I been living my whole life in the oldest city in Finland which suffered couple of huge fires too, and basically burned down whole city, there is one museum area with the old medieval buildings still that survived the fires, Turku Cathedral is also one of the oldest buildings in Finland (there is few other ones that are older), although it started as wooden building, burned and rebuilt etc few times, also Turku Castle too. They are both like 700-800 years old
Many houses were wood frame in Germany, even those of wealthy merchants... London is known to have burnt down...
However, churches were often of stone, sometimes brick. Somewhat later, rich people in middle Europe often built from stone to impress.
You might find more old wood frame buildings in smaller towns where war and fires had not hit that much.
You should have a look at Portuguese architecture, not only Portugal was one of the only countries who wasn't bombed during WWII, but Lisbon was also the First town built to resist Earthquakes ! It Inspired Japanese, as there was a Japanese representation , in Lisbon, at that time!
+Portugal has it's own unique styles of architecture!
As a Portuguese citizen, I agree. Our architecture can and is very unique. From the stone houses of Tras-os -Montes to the Monastery of Jeronimos there are very different styles.
Also, when any old buildings are at risk of collapsing, either have to rebuild and keep the original facade or build a new building and copy the original front, using the same materials and techniques. Very cool way to preserve our own heritage.
I recommend you see some of Gaudi's houses in Barcelona, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia, although it is still under construction.
Yes. Barcelona is an amazing city
He did see Sagrada Familia
@@florjanbrudar692 But Barcelona is so much more than that. It is not even only Gaudí. Lots of amazing "modernism" builduings from severel architects. I love the city a lot!
I got really tired after Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi.
@@nbarrio Also the gothic part of Barcelona, wich has very nice cathedrals nd castle like buildings, I love to visit those places when I travel to Barcelona.
10:35 If you have ever wondered where the shooting location for the "Grand Budapest Hotel" interior scenes was: It's a store in Görlitz, Germany.
I live not far from Leuven . Leuven is situated at about 27 kilometers east from Brussels . End of september I visited the interior of the town hall before they closed for a few years. They do renovation works during several years. In Leuven you have also a beautiful university library . Leuven has one of the oldest universities in Europe. President Hoover of the U.S.A. searched sponsors to rebuilt the library of Leuven after the first world war because the Germans had put the library on fire . That's why the place at the right side of the library is still called " Hooverplace". Leuven is also known as the beer city. The head office of biggest brewery of the world is located in Leuven. It is A.B. Inbev ('Anheuser Busch Inbev) The brewery of Stella Artois is in Leuven but they brew also beers like Leffe, Hoegaerden, Karmeliet, Jupiler, Kwak, Corona,Victoria ,Belle Vue,, the American beer Anheuser Busch and many other beers inside and outside Belgium; Leuven is also known to have the longest bar of the world. At the "old market" there are about 45 bars(cafe's). The second large university hospital of the world "Gasthuisberg" is also located in Leuven.In 2022 they had about 9963 staff members.
Check the "Gran place" of Brussels next, almost in the same style of Leuven's town hall but a full square with a lot of gothic building. Called by some (including me) the most beautiful square in the world
Are you Belgian? Belgian tourist in Italy told me a name of a city which is not touristic but very old and beautiful. I forgot the name.
@GianniDN yes I am Belgian. For me, who comes out of Wallonia it could be one of our city. My home town, Namur has a very old citadel near the city center between two river, I find it quite beautiful. Otherwise there are also Dinant, Bouillon, la roche-en-ardenne, Tournai,... Those are the less known ones i don't know if it rings a bell
@ I think it was a French name he mentioned. We actually visted several places in Wallonia before going to Tomorrowland. It was stunning and the people were so friendly. My friends and me got even invited at a barbeque of strangers and we could stay for the night. We were actually lost, we walked so long that we couldn’t find our car back, and these people helped us and invited us. Amazing memories. I really love Belgium and lots of people speak Italian.
@@GianniDN yes I do speak a tiny bit of italian and can understand some too ! For the french name, we have the bad habit of translating the names of the cities in French so it does not help a lot 🫤 Well, you'll just have to visit the whole of Belgium then
@ 🤣🤣 I will do that
Libraries have a significant place in Finnish culture and architecture: "AALTO - Official Trailer", "Alvar Aalto. The most famous nordic architect. Vyborg library project" and "The Most Popular Stool of All Time | Behind The HYPE: Stool 60". Discussing the architectural sights in Helsinki: "15 Must-See Architecture in the City Centre of Helsinki, Finland". On more traditional building style: "Oldest Log Cabin in America for Sale in New Jersey", "Traditional Finnish Log House Building Process" and "Traditional finnish log house 1988 and the same house 2017".
The saddest part is that costed billions (recalculated to today's currency), today when we can made such ornaments and statues by several technologies from various material for price of dirt, we build flat sterile boxes.
Thanks for sharing the picture of the Chicago building. I really like that it delivers on one idea - the padradox idea of fluidity in a building - very well and still the building seems functional.
Love the video. Check out:
* Anything by Gaudi (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell),
* the 2000 year old concrete (! Yes concrete can last 2000 years if its opus caementicium) dome of the Patheon in Rome
* Versailles Castle and its gardens, the one castle all European Kings tried to copy (but failed, due to lack of funds)
Paris is a relatively young city compared to other cities that features lots of middle age house of other official building way older. There are very few remain from the middle ages in Paris. In my town here in the Loire valley, a whole district in the city center dates back to the end of middle ages and renaissance periods. We have hundreds of houses like those two Parisian houses. Most of Paris center is like 1800´s century, which is very new for us. Some monument, like Notre Dame and other churches is 800 years old or more, but most of it is 19th century. That said the oldest building of Paris are the roman baths, about 1700 years old.
In Lyon, the whole historic old town dates back of the renaissance, which also many roman ruins. In the south, there are hundreds of villages and cities that are fully from the middle ages, or older. Cities like Nimes or Arles are still full of almost intact roman buildings (arenas, theaters, temples, arches, etc.) dating back from 2000 years ago or more.
Leuven town hall: I passed this building on a daily basis for 5 years during university. I got used to it, but seeing it again after 25 years (living on the other side of Belgium) I have to say that it really is impressive. In my time tho it was totally black, guess they got some maintenance done with my taxes, they did a good job.
When you get a chance to visit Europe, Belgium has some great architecture (indeed, in Brussels many buildings have a plaque with information about the architect) - you’ll particularly like Antwerp, Ghent and Brugge. And hey, if you get to Stockholm, I’d be happy to show you around!
Look up "lier". It's a small city here in Belgium but god damn it's beautiful. Basically the bruges of the province of antwerp.
In the Middle Ages, in some European Countries, houses were taxed according to their façades' dimension.
That's why in Porto, Portugal and in Ameterdam we can find Pencil-Thin houses.
Featuring several Stories and a quite deep structure.
Usually they were built within the walls of cities and in important commercial areas.
That's why rhey were very thin -- to afford more city space.
Over the centuries zillions were destroyed giving place to more conventionel buildings.
New Legislation was passed years ago. Accordingly, the derelict buildings must be rebuilt preserving the original style.
Consequently, here in Porto, Portugal and in Amesterdan, Holland, a handfull was preserved.
Acctually, 2 handfulls -- we are alluding to buildings in different Cities and Countries.....
If you'd want a taste of how some of these buildings (like the town hall in Belgium) look like from inside, I suggest 2 videos from channel "So Chateaux (in English)", the videos are "Tour of an Architectural Masterpiece: Peles Castle in Romania" and "In the SAME FAMILY for OVER 700 YEARS ! Tour of the CASTLE with the OWNER", these will most likely blow your mind (in a good way) 🙂 Great video as always, cheers from Europe!
It is said that Leuven build their magnificent townhall when it was still in the running to become the capital city of (South-)Brabant, however it was Brussels that got that title in the end. As for Dubrovnik, some parts of it might be recognized by viewer who watched Game of Thrones, since shots of King's Landing were actually from Dubrovnik.
One place that I found interesting was when I was in Bilbao working, and it was the Azkuna Zentroa building. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century for wine storage, but suffered a fire later, and never really had much done with it, but it had a very elaborately contructed exterior for simple wine storage. In the late 20th century, the interior was completely gutted out, and it was turned into a cultural centre, with a gym, swimming pool, library, shops, exposition hall, cinema, underground parking, restaurants and cafes, the whole lot, all with a very artistic modern feel, but keeping the original design on the exterior. I thought it was a great way to keep the architecture alive, but also give the building a modern use.
4:20 Limburg has a really nice and lively old town. On the hill over the town thrones the Saint George's Cathedral (since 1827 seat of a bishop which made the former collegiate church a cathedral); the first abbey church was built there in the 900s, extended in the 11th century and remodeled in the 13th century mostly in the current form. This landmark was the motive on the old 500 DM banknotes.
7:52 The leaning tower of Pisa is actually the Campanile or bell tower of the cathedral Santa Maria Assunta, while the leaning towers of Bologna belong to the still surviving family towers from the 12th century as each of the competing patrician clans in this city state. It is presumed that the construction of this forest of towers had to do with the investiture controversy between the Pope and the German-Roman Emperor as well as with the divide between the parties of Guelfi (follower of the Frankish-German House of Welf, Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony) and Ghibellini (follower of the Imperial House of Staufen, Dukes of Swabia, named after the town of Waiblingen near the hereditary seat of Hohenstaufen). Most of the towers were later demolished (some also fell down on their own); the two leaning ones are that of the Asinelli (97m high, built 1109-1116, probably then only about 60m high) and that of the Garisenda (48m high, built around 1110 to the height of 60m); a wooden bridge connecting both was destroyed in 1399 by a fire.
12:30 Dubrovnik was one of the places where they filmed Game of Thrones (mostly scenes set in King's Landing and some set in Qarth). It was first fortified in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the 7th century inhabitants of Epidaurum (20km to the South, destroyed by Slavic warriors) fled here. Later it became known as Ragusa (the Roman part, originally on an island) and Dubrovnik (a Slavic settlement on the coast); in the 12th century the dividing channel between island and main land was filled up. 1205-1358 the republic of Ragusa was a vassal of Venice, 1358 - 1526 they paid tribute to the crown of Croatia and Hungary, until 1718 to the Ottoman Empire. In 1806 the republic was seized by French troops, and in 1808 Marshal de Marmont declared the abolition of the republic and himself Duke of Ragusa in the French Illyrian provinces. In 1815 Ragusa became part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austrian Empire.
16:20 As an example: Maintenance for the Ulm Minster (the church with the still highest church tower in the world) is done by the "Münster-Bauhütte" (minster construction hut) ruclips.net/video/RoZtQmlweJc/видео.html, ("Bauhütte" was in medieval times the name for the construction office for a minster or a cathedral), currently led by the 21th minster master builder, Dr. Heidi Vormann. Since sandstone was used for the intricate details, they are permanently replacing weathered pieces. The work is partly funded by donations, partly with subsidies by the city and the state (the latter mostly for bigger renovation programs).
Stopped off at Limburg about 10 years ago whilst on a road trip. Really beautiful town, like stepping into a chocolate box painting. There was a beach party on in the town centre, along with lots of sand being dumped on the streets to create a town centre beach. And beer. Lots of beer
We have Church in Slovakia that was build in 9th-10th century (800-900). There used to be a city around but it completly disapeared and now it is only fields. Leuven is also nice, many buildings like that in Belgium.
i do not know about the maintenace of the leuven town hall .. but basically every gothic cathedral has a crew of stonemasons that do continuous rovving maintenance - one circuit around the entire cathedral every 15 years or so .. 8) - so basically you pay 10 or so well-paid stone masons year in year out - plus material .. plus the costs for occasional larger things like repairs to the roof and such
I first studied in the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven and then lived there for 15 years. The town hall is now a historic building and the new town hall is a very modern and minimalistic building on the ring road next to the train station. The old town hall is amazing in person - especially when the light hits it at sunrise/sunset or during Christmas the lights are done very well.
Inside I've only been on the first floor when it was still used as the town hall and it was very underwhelming - administrative environment. Most of the artifacts were covered or removed for safety. I imagine now it's great.
Oldest town in Sweden, Sigtuna was founded 980AD, Stockholm 1252AD.
Hey man! You might wanna look up 'Bokrijk, Limburg' in Belgium. It's an open air museum. They've kept it like it was in the 18th century 2nd half (so from 1750 onward) as a representation of what it used to be like.
They also,have an instagram where they have some truely nice video's and pictures showing the domain.
The gorgeous town hall is in my city of Leuven and yes it is beautiful, I do recommend it during the christmas weeks because there's lights on it! Leuven is often overlooked when there's brussels, antwerp, bruges, gent etc but it is worth a visit! We have the longest bar of europe and stella artois was founded here. Fun fact about the city hall it was mirrored after brussels town hall but is 2 stories higher lol. Also the statues weren't on it until the 1800s because money ran out like 300 years before lol.
7:50 I’m from Bologna and can tell you more about the towers and the city in general. The taller one is called Torre degli Asinelli and the other one Torre Garisenda from the families who commissioned them. At that time the city was ruled by the most rich family and to dispute they builded towers and this two families decided that who builded the tallest tower would rule the city. The winner was the Asinelli family while the Garisenda lost because their tower start to lean during the construction ad they had to stop. Now there are only few towers, but in the past Bologna looked like New York because full of towers.
Other interesting facts about the city:
•The big building behind the towers is a church called Basilica di San Petronio. You can clearly see that is made of bricks, but if you look the facade is half marble and the rest bricks. This because during the construction were an economic crisis and they had to continue with bricks.
•Under some streets there are canals and they can be visited and some of them are still visible. In the past Bologna was known like the second Venezia and was the biggest silk producer and how they fabricated it was so secret that there would be spies sent to find the secret. But unfortunately with the industrial revolution and a successful English spy Bologna lost its prestige.
•Bologna has the largest number of kilometers of porticoes in the world with a total of 62km (~32,5 miles).
This is a timely video, as the refurbished cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris is officially reopening on 8th December, following the cathedral's gutting by fire in 2019. Btw, my best mate and roomie at junior school had his home in Wales, which I used to visit at least twice a year. It was initially a thrill to be eating breakfast at the table in his kitchen, in the old part of his house. It had been a kitchen since at least 1404. My youngest son's dorm whilst at senior school in Somerset was built in 1350!!
I live in Leuven and the upkeep is expensive, the old city hall is under restoration atm (2024). But that city hall is still in use for weddings and the tourisme bureau is there as well. I love the building in xmas time. It is fully decorated with lights
Leuven in Belgium is just around 50 miles away from my place.
So maybe I could take some time to give you more pictures and also ask them how much it costs to maintain?
I'm from Leuven. The town hall was built between 1439 and 1469. It has 149 statues and is absolutely beautiful. Nowadays it's used for weddings and ceremonies. I can take hq pics and pm you if you want.
My last name originates from south-western France. There is a chateau there called Chateau de Serrant. We did a ancestry check and found that out we are possibly linked to the original family of the chateau.
Look at the Duomo of Milan in Italy, and look for the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (since 16 ottobre 1387) , which is the only one that has been maintaining the Duomo for years and years. However, it is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe
I'm from Leuven, great to see you like our city hall :). We don't even look at it anymore, sad indeed :) Now I'm living elsewhere for a while and when I return to Leuven I start looking in awe again at it :)
I think every Belgian has visisted Leuven several times. It's the biggest university city of Belgium. 149 statues of famous historical peoples and religious figures. The old king Leopold 2 got recently removed because of the atrocities he commited in Congo. It's not the only interesting building in Leuven, the library and the university itself are pretty famous aswell. The library got burned down in the first world ware but got rebuild. The church also collapsed in ww1 and still bears the marks heavily. I'm from Mechelen/Malines, which has been the capital of the old netherlands under the rule of the Habsburg family. Our Catherdral is counted as the religious capital of Belgium. The Sint Rombouts Cathedral.
I was born and raised in Leuven and, like many locals, now work there in one of the city's many historic buildings. A 25-minute train ride takes you from Brussels Central station to Leuven station, where you are immediately immersed in the atmosphere of history and beautiful architecture. A short walk of 1 km (or bus) brings you from the station on the outskirts to the centre of this compact and cosy city: the Grote Markt with the beautiful town hall, the stately Sint Pieters church and many other historic buildings. Around the corner, you can sample one of the many Belgian beers on the Old Market, also known as the longest bar in Europe, because of all the pubs lining the square. Also called the capital of beer, Leuven is the hometown of brewery Stella Artois and also of the oldest university in the Low Lands. There is much more: Beguinage (14th century and still used by the university, even inhabited!), Park Abbey, the university library, the remains of the old city walls, many churches, old and new art, and so on. If you want to discover the wonderful atmosphere of an old, lively Flemish city outside the atmosphere of big cities like Antwerp and Ghent, come to Leuven and enjoy!
Happy to see Leuven town hall in there. I have spent most of my life in that town and still visit regularly. The town hall is absolutely beautiful. One of the few buildings still standing in the town from before world war I. Almost the complete town was burned down to the ground during world war I.
Leuven is awsome. Beautifull and buzzing. Towns with old universities or breweries from the middle ages that are still going strong are always great places to visit. Leuven has both 😊.
I love these type of videos man. Feels like I'm hanging out with a friend
The oldest house from where I live (Flanders) is in Bruges, and has a basement built in the 1200s.
Hi IWr ! Wow, yes I confirm ! The Town Hall of Louvain (Leuwen in Flemish...) is quite a shock the first time you arrive on this vast square lined with cafes all side by side. But I think it's almost more impressive and fabulous in the evening when it's lit up. It's as stunning as Bruges or the Grand Place in Brussels...
I'm from Leuven, born and raised. Im a street musician and I've played on the grote markt a number of times. Its my home!
If you're ever in Belgium and you like buildings like the one in Leuven, you will also want to visit Ghent, and Bruges, which is much smaller, and has a cozier flair. The capital, Brussels, also has impressive architecture. This style is mainly a thing in the Flemish part of Belgium. The Wallon region in the south also has some charming cities, with a different style, like Dinant and Namur and even Liege (which, honestly, looks kinda ugly from the outside, but is beautiful once you're in the city). There's also lots of beautiful small towns.
3:20 That's a Morgan Plus 8. They aren't old necessarily. They just look that way. You can buy them fresh from the factory. This one for instance has a factory-fitted third brake light.
I love your reaction to Leuven, I see the town hall almost every day :). Fun fact, every one of the 149 statues on the city hall in Leuven is unique and is representative of something. Some of them are well known people, others have names that were lost to time. It's one of the best examples of the flamboyant gothic architecture of the Burgundian era of Flanders. The city halls of Brussels, Ghent and Oudenaarde have a similar design. You should definitely check out more of Belgium!
We went to Leuven in 2014 and then again in 2015 sat in a bar opposite the town hall that had the most variety of beers! And spent the afternoon just chilling and admiring this building ❤️ also Stella Artois brewery is in Leuven 🤣
Leuven is a university city, a massive amount of the population during the academic year are students.
The University has over 60k students yearly, many of which actually live there while studying. The city itself had just over 104k inhabitants in November 2024 (students not counted in those latter numbers)
Sources: publicly available numbers provided by the University and the City, respectively.
It's one of the major universities in Belgium, so it's not uncommon for anyone that has studied here to have studied, and lived, there.
15:15, they had rudimentary scaffolding, cranes and lifting equipment even back then, was it safe probably not but it got the job done.
3:30 looks like a Morgan Roadster, I could be wrong
Leuven, my home town, got married in that Town Hall. It's gorgeous on the inside as well. The building will undergo huge maintenance works and accessibility upgrades for about 4 years starting soon, so sadly it will be surrounded by scaffolding for a very long time. Every statue is different with famous historical people. For example, you got Mercator (from the world map) who was a professor at the university, he's holding a glove as well). These statues reguire a lot of maintenance and are not the originals, the originals are kept in the attic. These get replaced quite regulary as they get battered by the outside conditions.
Born and raised in Leuven, I've seen the old town hall so many times but it is still so amazing to look at. Right now it is being renovated until 2029 costing 19million euros.
Dubrovnik walls have been constructed from 13th to 17th century and are about 2km long.
Fun fact...how did High council(which ruled the Republic of Raguza/Dubrovnik) get the stone for the walls and fortresses? well if you wanted to come to the city your ticket was to bring a stone. if you was a smaller man you would bring smaller stone and if you were larger,then larger stone.
one very important thing for you as american and your countrymen....Dubrovnik was the first state that recognized your independence from british crown. so you can say Croatia recognized you first.
and there are so much cool things about Dubrnovnik...it had sewage and running water in every home 900y before France and Britain for example. the first maritime insurance for trading ships was in Dubrovnik,about 150y before Lloyd,2nd oldest pharmacy in EUrope(still working) is in Dubrovnik,it had fire department and fire hazard rules,how to build homes established in 13th century,it had diplomats in 80 counties in the world,consulate...it had legalized prostitution and orphanage centuries before anyone else,...and so much more. i am not admiring it because it is our,croatian, and of our history but if every country in the world today would be governed as Dubrovnik was world would be so much better and happier place. Dubrovnik invented quarantine and after Korčula(the city on the same named island,ofent known as lesser Dubrnovnik) it was the the first republic to abolish slavery in begining of 14th century. Korčula as city did it in 1274...i think.
www.imdb.com/title/tt5934040/
find this on netflix amazon or where ever you can find it...History of Dubrovnik,documentary film...amazing...those who visited the city will appreciate it even more after watching this documentary series...i think it is in 8 episodes
Actually i was born in Leuven. As you can see, every nice has a statue. But each of the statue's pedestals in turn depicts a scene. If you want detailed pictures, hit me up.
8:45 the domes are green because they are made of copper and they became covered with patina like the Statue of Liberty
4:04 is where i life and the oldest house there is from 1289, the whole old town is like that. I even know someone who lifes in one of these today. Limburg old town together with the kathedral is really worth a visit.
You should look at pictures of the Leuven City Hall salons. They have been renovated for over a year they are decked in gold leaf et all...
Maintenance is actually ok. The whole facade was calcified during the last renovation (it used to be black from exhaust fumes until they banned cars) so it stays nice and white for longer now. The building gets used for receptions, monthly city council meetings, marriages (salons)
The coming years it will be renovated so it's accessible for the public. You'll even be able to visit the attic where the old and replaced statues are stored.
Upkeep is simple really, gets cleaned all day and every week they polish the floors ;)
(when I say I worked there for years, I mean I worked there for 20 years.)
Statues weren't added until the 19th century after Victor Hugo (of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables fame) wrote to the city council complaining about the empty spaces on the facade...
Anyway, for a full history of the building, visit in 2028 ;-)
Yeah, I have passed along the Leuven town hall plenty of times. Actually just last Saturday. Perhaps outrageous for you, I haven't even looked up and was more interested, how crowded the Burger King around the corner is 😅
FunFact 1: Leuven Town Hall was built before Columbus discovered America.
FunFact2: Leuven is headquarters to Anheuser-Busch InBev ... (InBev bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008)
Hungarian here, Halászbástya (aka Fishermans Bastion) 11:35 not so old, it was built in 1895-1902.
You should take a look at the Matthias Church next to it, which is older, or not so far from it the Castle. Both is much older than the Fishermans Batsion.
Also Dubrovnik is one of my favorite cities, that old town part is beautiful.
. look for Antoni Gaudí architecture (spanish) .. and Oscar Niemeyer (brazilian)
About Leuven Stadhuis (town hall). You can of course take a walk around the entire building using Google Earth street view (and also take a look inside). Incidentally, the same applies to most of the places you showed in this video 😉😁.
Now just don't forget to eat from time to time when wandering around Europe 😉🙂.
Terribly sorry, but unfortunately I don't know of any feature in GE that can help with that, other than possibly pointing out local restaurants.
:-) Leuven Town hall. i was born and raised half a mile from there. I passed it several times a day for over 20 years. Didn’t know people would find it so amazing.
19:20 regarding the thin houses. I don't know about this particular one, but in some cities in Europe (like Amsterdam for example), property taxes were paid by the width of the property. The wider your house, the more taxes you pay. Alot of thin houses get wider in the back. It's just the facade that is thin to avoid taxes.
Since it is the town hall in Leuven where I live. I got married in this building. It is a fantastic building but the whole area around it is nice. You should also look up the library of Leuven which was reconstructed with American money after the world war it also looks fantastic. And Leuven is the birthplace of Stella Artois so we have the beer to go with all of this which we drink on the old square of which we say it is the longest bar in belgium as there are cafés all around the old square. And it is about 100 meters from the town hall.
I'm glad to see the Fisherman's Bastion too, greetings from Hungary!
I'm a Belgian guy living in Bruges and travelled to about 40 different cities across Europe. When you grow up in places like that you don't realise how spoiled you are untill some American on the internet reminds you about it. Half of the stuff you showed I wouldn't even look twice because it's normal to me. The last one in India did impress me a lot. Stunning!
For me Rome left the biggest impression.
Living in Belgium, town between Brussels and Ghent. Oldest building here dates from 1225. It's an alderman's house.
When you check the Leuven Building closely, it is full of statues of different size from big to small ones with very clear details on the carvings. There is a small statue of a man about 1 foot tall wearing the medieval clothes. If you go under that statue, you can see that he is not wearing any underwear and you will see the private parts in very clear details. That is how intricate that buliding is. BTW I am from Bruxelles Belgium.
In Denmark we have lots of old buildings too. When some of the buildings had to be removed they rebuild them in: Den gamle by, Arhus/ The old town, Arhus. There are lots of videos from the old town here on YT.
9:10 it's more like "Ooh-dy", as in literally "an Ode".
I live in a small Town in Germany.
Our small Castle Ruin here is first Time written in ancient Documents in Year 1077
Also a few Houses arround it have Years written on it from 1300-1500
16:10 The upkeep for the Cologne Cathedral is about 12 million Euros per year.
Wow! That’s more than I would’ve guessed
@@IWrocker With the stone being vulnerable to acid rain and sooth and other industrial waste in the air, it has to be constantly repaired and replaced. At least one corner of Cologne Cathedral is constantly in scaffolding, because of the ongoing stone work. And if this corner is repaired, the scaffolding moves to the next, so you have an eternal construction site.
55% of that being "Bauunterhalt", which I translated as contsruction maintenance.
3:10 Morgan Plus 8
And it's not old, it might be brand new but it's just a old design and way of building cars.
Might have to have a look into Morgan ;)
@@tienenaar2295 That car in particular in the video looks like a 70s/80s Morgan Plus 4
Buildings and houses in the UK often date back to Norman 11th century times, except in the City of London, the old Roman walled City, which had all but one building in the old city destroyed in the Great Fire. The oldest buildings a mere 4 centuries old. Sir Christopher Wren's master plan for a well planned out city came to nought as owners just rebuilt on the old sites but in brick and stone as wood, wattle and daub and thatched roofs banned. He did get his way in parts, mainly around St. Pauls and a few of the churches he rebuilt. The Monument to the Great Fire is 207 ft tall, the exact distance from its base to the shop in Pudding Lane where the fire started in a Bakers. It was possible to climb it to the top but now closed due to Health and Safety Legislation as a very steep spiral staircase.