Grand Place

The Leuven ‘Plaetse’ is one of the first examples outside Italy of a square designed according to the principles of the Renaissance. The whole is composed in such a way that it makes the greatest possible impression. The people of Leuven had to negotiate with the Pope for it. The old St. Peter's cemetery had to be desecrated for the construction of the new square.
In this open-air theater, the city community displayed its power and wealth. Even the splendor-loving dukes were impressed. Every new duke made his ‘joyful entry’ here: Philip the Fair, Charles V, and Philip II, ...
The Round Table acts as the backdrop for the square. The current building is a fairly faithful twentieth-century copy of the original from around 1480. The chamber of rhetoric was housed in it. This association enlivened the city festivities with theatrical performances and laudatory poems. They did this in close collaboration with the city painter, who was responsible for the embellishment of the city. The rhetoricians commissioned painted side panels for their altar in St. Peter's Church from Jan van Rillaer. For their performances, they had the most grandiose stage right outside the door: the Grand Place.
Philip II was greeted by the giantess Megera at his visit to Leuven in the Grand Place. The wife of the giant Hercules was created around 1532. Her head is still preserved in M-Museum Leuven. The giant family regularly performed at festivities in the Grand Place.

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