Work on the oldest parts of the building began on 11 April 1317, with the aim of replacing the 12th-century cloth hall, which had become too small after a rapid expansion of the city's cloth trade around 1300. The builders were Jan Stevens, Arnout Hore and Goert Raes. After the university was closed and its assets seized in 1797, University Hall became state property. An imperial decree of 12 December 1805 returned the former University Hall to the city, which housed the city library in part of the building and rented the rest out to private businesses, including a butcher's shop, a tavern and a theatre. Only the outer walls of University Hall remained standing. The destruction of the library shocked the world, with the
Daily Chronicle describing it as war not only against civilians but also against "posterity to the utmost generation." Only urgent stabilisation works could be carried out during the war, and research on the structures that the fire had laid bare was carried out by Professor of Architecture,
Raymond Lemaire.
University offices After the war, the building was returned to the university on a 99-year lease. Between 1921 and 1926, renovation works were undertaken to return the building to its pre-war appearance. Works were completed on 20 October 1926, and the restored building was inaugurated on 28 June 1927. A new, dedicated University Library was built on the square now known as
Ladeuzeplein, and University Hall housed a museum and the central offices of the rector and staff. What had been the library reading room became a hall for the conducting of public
doctoral vivas. In the 1970s, the museum was rehoused and the resulting spaces refurbished for formal receptions. Further minor restoration works were carried out in the 1980s, in part for a papal visit by
John Paul II in 1985. ==References==