At the end of the Ancien Régime, the church possessions on the Blandijnberg were confiscated by the city. In the 19th century, the Blandijnberg area was completely urbanized and had become a laborers' neighborhood. In 1848 Sint-Pietersplein, the city's largest square, was laid out in order to redevelop the area. At the end of the 19th century, part of the hill was cleared to build new university buildings for Ghent University. In the 1930s, the Ghent University Library with its iconic Boekentoren, designed by Henry Van de Velde, was built on top of the Blandijnberg. In 1960, the new buildings of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, known as the Blandijn, were opened. The Blandijn is directly adjacent to the Boekentoren.