The Great Beguinage of Leuven: an early challenge for the Venice Charter

Commissioned by the University of Leuven (Belgium) and mainly carried on between 1962 and 1972, the renovation of the Great Beguinage(fig.1) under the exclusive supervision of Raymond M. Lemaire (1921-1997) has long been seen as an implementation laboratory of the contemporary Venice Charter, of which Lemaire was one of the writers. Nevertheless, an in-depth study of the operation, based on extensive archival and photographic material, reveals that rather than a mere illustration of the charter’s principles, the project, considered a pilot operation by the Council of Europe, has been an early challenge for the new document, contributing to Lemaire and Gazzola’s will to get it reviewed as soon as in the early 1970’s. After a short introduction situating the project in Raymond M. Lemaire’s career, this paper will highlight the complex relations of the project with the charter, resulting from the sometimes competing demands of architectural restoration and urban renovation, at the moment when Lemaire took part in the first reflections that would lead to the concept of integrated conservation.