LUND. — City and former diocese, formerly Danish territory, transferred to Sweden in 1658; situated at the intersection 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 coins were minted in 1060, and the primitive wooden church was called S. Maria Minore. Around the year 1080, Canute, king of Denmark, laid the foundation stone of the new Cathedral. In 1103 L. became an archiepiscopal see and metropolitan church for all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The Cathedral, dedicated to s. Lorenzo, began to be altered and enlarged. In 1123 Archbishop Ascario consecrated the high altar of the crypt, and in 1145 Archbishop Eskil
consecrated the basilica, the work of a certain “Donatus architectus,” as we read in the Necrologium Lundense. The building recalls the cathedrals of Mainz and Speyer, but betrays Lombard inspiration, especially in its ornamentation and the harmony of its proportions. On some of the columns in the crypt are represented Delilah cutting Samson’s hair and Samson causing the temple to collapse. The last archbishop of L., B. Gunarsson (1512), is buried in a large sarcophagus. The upper Basilica displays the two twelfth-century towers on the exterior, while inside the great vaults were rebuilt after the fire of 1234. The choir stalls date from the second half of the fourteenth century, as does the episcopal throne, whereas the column with the statue of St. Lawrence belongs to the end of the thirteenth century. The Cathedral was restored by the architect A. Van Düren in 1833.
L. became increasingly prosperous, and the archiepiscopal see grew into a highly important center. Among its prelates, mention should be made of 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, at which the Faculty of Medicine and a very rich library underwent considerable development. King Charles XII established his residence in L. (1715–18).