The Leuven Stadhuis is one of the most spectacular secular Gothic buildings in existence. Built between 1448 and 1469 under the direction of master builders Sulpitius van Vorst and Jan II Keldermans, it was designed as an emphatic statement of civic wealth at the height of the cloth trade. Three bays rise from the ground floor through a full five storeys, each crowned by an octagonal tower with a finial, the entire facade covered in ornamental tracery, pinnacles, and carved figures.
The ground floor contains the council chamber and tourist information office, and you can enter for free to see the interior. Guided tours of the upper floors run at set times and are worth taking for the views from the upper gallery. But even from the square, you could spend half an hour just working through the facade's details: the 236 statue niches, the bas-reliefs between the windows, the gargoyles at the corners.