The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Dutch for Catholic University of Leuven, but usually not translated into English), also known as KU Leuven or University of Leuven, is a Dutch-speaking university in Leuven, Flanders, Belgium. The University of Leuven was founded at the centre of the historic town of Leuven in 1425, making it Belgium’s first university. After being closed in 1797 during the Napoleonic period, the Catholic University of Leuven was ‘re-founded’ in 1834, and is frequently, but controversially, identified as a continuation of the older institution.A In 1968 the Catholic University of Leuven split into the Dutch-language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the French-language Université catholique de Louvain, which moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia. Since the fifteenth century, Louvain, as it is still often called, has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic theology. It is considered to be the oldest Catholic university still in existence.