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A museum of the Arts and Civilisations at the very heart of the University

The University Museum of Louvain-la-Neuve holds arts and civilisations collections numbering almost 20,000 exhibits. The diversity of the collections originates from the many courses taught at the University. Numerous donations have also enriched the Museum’s collections. Today three major thematic vectors structure the collections.

The History of Civilizations vector presents the ancient Mediterranean, the traditional cultures of Central Africa as well as Mediaeval and Renaissance sculpture (France and the Low Countries).

The 20th century Art vector is on display in an exhibition room where the exhibits are regularly changed and which allows visitors to discover abstract and figurative painting especially from Belgium. 20th and 21st century art is also honoured during the temporary exhibitions organized by the Museum.

The Dialogue vector is the most characteristic aspect of the Museum of Louvain-la-Neuve. It allows a meeting of modern European art and art from other civilisations. Renowned professional artists such as the great engravers of the 19th century (Goya, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, etc.) rub shoulders with self-taught or anonymous artists who are associated with popular or naïve art. Visitors are invited to make a journey beyond the traditional boundaries which, in other museums, often separate the exhibits.



A Brief Summary of Major Acquisitions
From the Beginnings up to the Present Day


1864: Canon Edmond Reusens, holder of the newly created chair of Christian Antiquities and Archaeology, acquires the first plaster casts of the University’s collection.

1909: Professor Edouard de Jonghe, lecturer in “ethnography”, constitutes an important collection of objects from the cultures of the freshly created Belgian Congo with the help of several missionary orders.

1968: The Board of the new French-speaking UCL, still situated at Leuven, ratifies the incorporation of the Frans Van Hamme Bequest among its holdings. This collection centres on the history of sculpture in our regions from Gothic to Baroque. As for the historical collections, they are divided up between the two universities.

1979: The Humanities Faculty is the last to move from Leuven to Louvain-la-Neuve. The museum, situated in the same building, is inaugurated on the 22nd of November. The permanent collections are centred on four major themes: ancient sculpture (the Frans Van Hamme Bequest), African art, classical archaeology (principally the Fernand Mayence Collection and the Abbé Adolphe Mignot Gift) and the plaster cast collection. The wish to open out to present-day art manifests itself already.

1990: Inauguration of the Dr Charles Delsemme Bequest. “Dialogue” becomes a pillar of the museum’s identity and image. Modern art encounters the history of civilisations within its walls.

1994: Inauguration of the Suzanne Lenoir Collection. This is a collection of about 1,500 prints collected by Eugène Rouir and covers the history of this art from the beginnings up to about 1970.

1997: Inauguration of the Noubar and Micheline Boyadjian Gift. The part of this gift which concerns popular art and piety coincides with an already well-rooted interest on the museum’s behalf for anonymous art.

The 2000s: the principal acquisitions concern 20th century art either Belgian (the Serge Goyens Gift and the Eddy Meeùs Gift) or with a greater international dimension (the Roger Van Ooteghem Bequest centred on the 60s and 70s). Modern art becomes an essential dimension of the collections.

Today: the museum’s acquisitions policy is no longer concerned with opening up new areas, at least provisionally, but with consolidating the mastery of the collections which have been made up over time. This takes place by encouraging acquisitions which constitute links or passages between areas which are already represented.

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Exhibitions 2012

SPACE / TIME

Ink drawings

From 29th March to 1st July 2012

The “Space/Time” exhibition evokes humanity in its relationship to space and time through the medium of the ink drawings belonging to the Museum of Louvain-la-Neuve.

The selection principally honours drawings by 20th century Belgian artists. Works by P. Alechinsky, F. Herth, Th. Van Gindertael, M. Quinet, P.-L. Flouquet, J. Delahaut, Lismonde, Ch. Dotremont, G. Bertrand, R. Devolder, H. Heerbrant, R. Somville, E. Dubrunfaut, E. Van Anderlecht, M. Wyckaert and others will rub shoulders with older drawings from the 17th century onwards and also some oriental drawings.

Some of the works evoke space through images which depict real or imaginary territories. Others allude to time and its irreversible flow or to the theme of memory.

Because of its indelible nature, the execution of an ink drawing within the space of a sheet of paper has to be a thoughtful act. In the Far East this act is correctly described as being in agreement with the artist’s space-time.


Annexes: Press_Space_time.doc

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Useful Information

Address

Musée de Louvain-La-Neuve
Place Blaise Pascal, 1
B. 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Phone (32)(10) 47.48.41
Fax (32)(10) 47.24.13
E-mail

Opening hours


From Tuesday to Friday : 10am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday : 2pm to 6pm

Closed

Mondays and public holidays
From December 24th to January 2nd

Entrance fees

Full fee : 3 €
2 € for :
- Senior citizens
- Groups of at least 10
- Non-UCL students under 26

Free :

- Friends of the Museum of LLN
- UCL students or equivalent
- UCL personnel
- Under 18s
- Unemployed
- Teachers
- Journalists
- Members of ICOM

Free for all visitors on the first Sunday of every month

An average visit takes an hour

70 % of the museum can be visited by persons with reduced
mobility

Guided Visitses

Guided visits for adults in French, Dutch or English
Guided visits and workshops for young people and school
groups
Guided visits last 90 minutes
Detailed programmes and reservations at the Education
Department Ph. : 010.47.48.45
E-mail

The Documentation Centre

Open on Wednesdays from 10am to 6pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 1pm by appointment only.
Ph. : 010.47.48.41
E-mail

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How can you get to the museum?

By car

Motorway E411, exit number 8a : Louvain-la-Neuve (Centre).
Boulevard de l’Est, towards « Centre urbain ».
Towards « Grand-Place » - Parking « Accès Musée ».
A reduced parking fee is offered to museum visitors by
« Parkings de l’Esplanade ».

By train

Final station : Louvain-la-Neuve-université

By bus

TEC bus stop : Parking Leclercq

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