Ladeuzeplein is the broad square that serves as the university's public face, dominated by the elegant facade of the University Library building. The square is less architecturally cohesive than the Grote Markt — it has the slightly wind-swept quality of a civic space designed more for function than atmosphere — but the library building itself is one of Leuven's most moving structures.
The library was built in the 1920s after the original medieval building was burned by German troops in August 1914, in one of the most notorious cultural atrocities of the First World War. The replacement, funded by international donations and designed by American architect Whitney Warren, was completed in 1928 — only to be destroyed again in May 1940. The current building is a faithful reconstruction, its tower visible from much of the city centre. The library is open to the public and the entrance hall, with its decorated wooden ceiling and memorial inscriptions to donor universities worldwide, is worth a visit.