Recent News

Ornamenta Sacra. Late Medieval and Early-Modern Liturgical Objects in a European Context (1400-1800) (Brussels-Leuven, 24-26 October 2019)

Conferences, Lectures

The general purpose of this symposium is to study the rich cultural heritage through interdisciplinary research as to contextualize the liturgical objects in their historical, spatial and cultural environment. Issues related to the provenance, the nature and the evolution will be explored in order to gain a better understanding of its religious and artistic importance.

Read more

Simiolus awards the Bader Prize 2019 to Daan van Heesch

Awards, Publications, Research

The scholarly journal Simiolus has awarded Daan van Heesch the Bader Prize 2019 for his article “Paulus de Kempenaer and the Political Exploitation of Hieronymus Bosch in the Dutch Revolt”. The Bader Prize is an international award for the best original contribution on European art prior to 1950 written by an art historian younger than 35. The first issue of Simiolus 2019…

Read more

Who we are

Illuminare (KU Leuven) is a research and documentation centre, located in the Leuven University Library. The focus on medieval and early modern art from the Low Countries in a European perspective is facilitated by both research and doctoral projects that are supported by an international network of universities, institutions, and museums. Illuminare conserves and catalogues illuminated manuscripts and carries out art technical research. It examines, through an interdisciplinary approach, the iconology of medieval art. It holds several research archives of renowned art historians, and organises national and international exhibitions.

Illuminare is supported by KU Leuven, the University Library (KU Leuven), the Van der Weyden Chair – Paul & Dora Janssen (KU Leuven), the Veronique Vandekerchove Chair of the City of Leuven (KU Leuven), the Chair of Medieval Sculpture in the Netherlands (KU Leuven), the Illuminare Fund (KU Leuven), the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), the Belgian Federal Science Policy (Belspo), the Hercules Foundation and the King Baudouin Foundation.