city and university since 1817 ENgallery texts downloadable from www.stamgent.be please drop me in the box as you leave city and since 1817 university October 9th 1817 saw the ceremonious opening of the university in Ghent. Since that day back in 1817 the university has become firmly embedded in the city and is now an unmissable part of the street­ scape. Students live here, hurry by bicycle from one building to another and also take advantage of the university city’s vibrant nightlife. Campuses are expanding and a fourth tower has appeared on the skyline, the Book Tower. The exhibition looks back at the inter­ action between city and university over the last 200 years. It also looks to the future. ‘City and University. Since 1817’ is a STAM exhibition about the university, the city and above all about their coexistence — yesterday, today and tomorrow. 2 1 ] a university The Belgian Revolution in August for ghent 1830 was the start of a chaotic period. Two of the four faculties In 1817 Ghent acquired were scrapped and Orangist Ghent a university. At the time Ghent feared for its university. The uncer­ — like the rest of what is tainty came to an end in Septem­ today Belgium — was part ber 1835: Ghent would retain of the United Kingdom its university, with four faculties. of the Netherlands. In 1815, at the beginning of 1.01 ] The early days the newly created United Kingdom of the university of the Netherlands, education in the south was in a sorry state, On November 3rd 1817 classes having been badly neglected. King began at the Arts and Philosophy, William I planned to bring educa­ Law, Science and Medicine faculties tion, including higher education, with 190 students, 16 professors up to scratch. It was not long before and 13 members of staff. Lectures a bitter struggle broke out between were delivered in Latin, but Dutch Ghent, Leuven, Bruges, Tournai and French were also used. Most and Brussels, all of which recognized of the professors, who were mainly the importance of having a uni­ Catholics, came from the (Northern) versity. Ghent also lobbied in The Netherlands, Germany and France. Hague. The city already had a medical For medicine they were also school, a botanical garden and a recruited locally. Jozef Kluyskens library in Baudelo Abbey as well as (1771–1843), who had trained at the a burgeoning industry. And hadn’t Medical School in Ghent, became a ‘Calvinist university’ been founded professor without a chair or professor in Ghent back in 1576, with the con­ extraordinarius and later rector. sent of the House of Orange­Nassau? The city council had to provide build­ On September 25th 1816 William ings for the lectures: the Pakhuis took the plunge and founded univ­ (warehouse) on the Korenmarkt ersities in Ghent, Leuven and Liège. (Medicine), the former Jesuit Ghent’s inauguration ceremony College in Voldersstraat (Arts and was held in the presence of crown Philosophy), Baudelo Chapel (Law) prince William in the Town Hall and buildings on Kortedagsteeg on October 9th 1817. (Sciences and Anatomy). Clinical A UNIVERSITY FOR GHENT 3 studies as part of the Medical Science 1.06 ] Flandria Illustrata, 1641–1644 course took place in the Bijloke Civil Illustration of the Collegium Hospital and botany lessons were Societatis Iesu Gandavensis, given in the botanical garden on the the Jesuit monastery in Volders­ Baudelo site where the city library straat, where the Arts lectures was also located. At the beginning of took place in the early days 1818 the city gifted the library and the of the university. botanical garden to the university. Ghent University Library 1.07 ] A degree in medicine from 1.03 ] File relating to the establishment the university of Padua, awarded to of the universities in the Southern Jan Damman (or Daman) in 1642. Netherlands, 1816. It was 1817 before Ghent citizens National Archives of the Netherlands could follow a university course in their own city. So in the seventeenth 1.04 ] Letters from the burgomaster century Jan Damman went off to of Leuven, the burgomaster and Padua in Italy to study. council of Ghent and representa­ Ghent University Library tives of the States of West Flanders about the respective advantages 1.08 ] Panoramic views of Ghent, c. 19. of Leuven, Ghent and Bruges as In the course of the nineteenth university cities, 1814–16. century Ghent became a large National Archives of the Netherlands industrial city. More and more smoking factory chimneys featured 1.05 ] Book of portrait drawings in illustrations of that time. of six former pupils of the college Ghent University Library of the Augustinians in Ghent who were school captain (primus). 1.09 ] Marcellis Bridge, view from That achievement merited immor­ the Muinkkaai, A. Heins, c. 19. talization in a portrait, 1804–1805. Ghent Archives (City of Ghent and OCMW Ghent) Ghent University Library 1.10 ] View of the botanical garden with the hothouses on the Ottogracht, c. 19. Ghent University Library 4 1.11 ] Jean Baptiste de Noter, Plantentuin 1.20 ] Chair from the university Gent (Botanical Garden Ghent), library on the Ottogracht. published in 1815 and 1816. Ghent University Library Ghent University Library 1.21 ] Programme of the university 1.12 ] Jean Baptiste de Noter, plan inauguration ceremony drawn up in 1818 for the library, on October 9th 1817. the botanical garden and the Royal Ghent University Library College on the Ottogracht. Ghent University Library 1.22 ] Mattheus Ignatius van Bree, the solemn inauguration of the 1.13 ] Reading Room in the chapel university of Ghent by the Prince on the Ottogracht, 1898. of Orange in the Throne Room Ghent University Library in the Town Hall, 1817–1830. The painting above the throne 1.14 ] Watercolour by Auguste Joseph depicts William I and was brought Van den Eynde depicting Baudelo from Antwerp to Ghent specially Chapel as a reading room, 1853. for the occasion. Ghent University Library Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 1.15 ] The Ottogracht in 1865, seven 1.23 ] Portrait of Daniël van Duyse years before it was filled in. (1852–1924), professor at Ghent University Library the Faculty of Medicine in Ghent, dressed in a toga. Photograph 1.16 ] Catalogue Room in the library, by Albert Lahmer, 1907. end c. 19 — beginning c. 20. Ghent University Library Ghent University Library 1.24 ] Appendix to the Royal Decree 1.17 ] Manuscripts Reading Room in of January 8th1838 stipulating the library on the Ottogracht, 1933. the attire of office for professors. Ghent University Library Ghent University Library 1.18 ] Library on the Ottogracht in 1933. 1.25 ] Design sketch by Lieven Ghent University Library De Bast for the university sceptre, 1816. This sceptre is carried 1.19 ] Manuscripts Reading Room in in public ceremonies. the library on the Ottogracht, 1931. National Archives of the Netherlands Ghent University Library 5 1.26 ] Toga, beret and ermine, c. 20. 1.32 ] Portrait of librarian Karel Ghent University Archives Van Hulthem (1764–1832) by Karel Picqué, 1833. 1.27 ] Stamp showing a representation KASK Ghent of Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom. Minerva was depicted on the university emblem 1.02 ] The university’s at the time of its foundation. palace Ghent University Archives On November 16th 1816 the city 1.28 ] Letter from the intendant of the council decided to build an Aula Département de l’Escaut to burgo­ Academica, a truly prestigious master of Ghent de Lens (1765– project for Ghent and the university. 1830), discussing the establishment The commission went to the young of the university, 1814. architect Louis Roelandt (1786– Ghent Archives (City of Ghent and OCMW Ghent) 1864), later city architect and pro­ fessor. He chose a classical style for 1.29 ] Blazon of William I and his signa­ the Aula, which was built on the ture in the Gulden Boek (Golden site of the demolished Jesuit Church Book) to mark his Joyful Entry in Voldersstraat. The imposing into Ghent on September 6th 1815. façade was inspired by the Pantheon Ghent University Library in Rome. The lecture rooms were at the back. Building work began 1.30 ] Letter of application from Joannes in 1819 and continued until 1826. de Scheemaecker. He was given the The Aula Academica was inaugu­ job of porter at the new university. rated on October 3rd 1826. The city Ghent Archives (City of Ghent and OCMW Ghent) had paid for the building, so rather than being reserved exclusively 1.31 ] Palm. The inscription on the stem for academic ceremonies, the Aula tells us that it was awarded by played a full part in Ghent’s cultural the City of Ghent as a tribute to life. For example, in 1834 the Jules Octave Devigne (1844–1908). Floralies (floral show) was held He was first in Philology at in the peristylium. Ghent university in the 1865–66 academic year. STAM 6 1.33 ] Portrait of Louis Joseph Roelandt 1.39 ] Ange De Baets, (1786–1864), city architect, Rotunda of the Aula. professor of architecture and Ghent University designer of the Aula. Photograph by Charles D’Hoy, 1860. 1.40 ] Sketch by Pierre François Ghent University Library De Noter of an exhibition of paintings in the Aula, 1.34 ] Félix (Jan Ferdinand) Heyndrickx, around 1839. allegorical representation Groeninge Museum Bruges of the laying of the first stone of the Aula. 1826 1.41 ] Sectional view of the Aula Ghent University by architect Louis Roelandt, 1919. Ghent University Library 1.35 ] Call for tenders for the building of the Aula. 1.42 ] Façade of the Aula Ghent University Library in Voldersstraat, c. 19 – c. 20. Ghent University Library 1.36 ] The golden trowel used to lay the first stone of the Aula 1.43 ] Péristyle de l’Université, on August 4th 1819.