Owned by two powerful and wealthy families (Croÿ and Arenberg), this castle domain enjoyed several centuries of luxurious noble life, with grand banquets within the castle walls and frequent hunting parties in the surrounding forests. After the First World War it came into the hands of the University of Leuven. They bought it from the Belgian State in the 1920s. The castle was placed under sequestration after the First World War because the Arenberg family was of German origin.
During the Second World War, the castle, whose main wing had been protected as a monument since 1938, suffered a lot of damage. The university began restoration in the 1960s. She also immediately made it more suitable for use in educational and research activities. The restoration process took place in phases. In the early period, several nineteenth-century interventions were reversed. Sometimes striking contemporary elements were also added during the renovation works.
The entire Arenberg Castle has been protected since 1980 and the area surrounding the castle - today known as the Arenberg Park - is a protected villagescape. Over the past century, the Leuven University built a large science campus in the park, including research laboratories, classrooms, student housing and sports infrastructure.
(KU Leuven website)