LUND. - City and ancient diocese, formerly Danish territory, passed to Sweden in 1658; situated at the crossing of the main road that traversed Scania from southwest to northeast, called in the Middle Ages Londinum Gothorum.
The diocese was founded in this center, where coinage was struck in 1060, and the primitive wooden church was called St. Mary Minor. Around the year 1080 Canute, king of Denmark, laid the first stone of the new Cathedral. In 1103 L. became an archiepiscopal see and metropolis for all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Lawrence, began to be modified and enlarged. In 1123 the archbishop Ascer consecrated the high altar of the crypt, and in 1145 the archbishop Eskil consecrated the basilica, the work of a «Donatus architectus», as one reads in the Necrologium Lundense. The building recalls the cathedrals of Mainz and Speyer but betrays Lombard inspiration especially in its ornamentation and in the harmony of its proportions. On some columns of the crypt are represented Delilah cutting Samson's hair and Samson bringing down the temple. In a large sarcophagus is laid the last archbishop of L., B. Gunarsson (1512). The upper Basilica presents on the exterior the two towers of the 12th century, and in the interior the great vaults were rebuilt after the fire of 1234. The choir stalls are from the second half of the 14th century, as is the episcopal throne, while the column with the statue of St. Lawrence belongs to the end of the 13th century. The Cathedral was restored by the architect A. Van Düren in 1833.
L. became ever more flourishing and the archiepiscopal see became a very important center. Among its prelates should be remembered Eskil (1127-77), Absalon (1177-1201), Andre Simeson (1201-22), Jacob Erdinson and Jens Grand. With Protestantism L. declined. It began to flourish again from 1668, when it became the seat of an important university in which the Faculty of medicine has taken a great development, along with a very rich library. In L. King Charles XII fixed his residence (1715-18).
Bibliography3 works
Enrico Josi