He consecrated the basilica, built by a certain “Donatus architectus,” as recorded in the Necrologium Lundense. The structure recalls the cathedrals of Mainz and Speyer but betrays Lombard inspiration, especially in its ornamentation and harmonious proportions. In some columns of the crypt are depicted Delilah cutting Samson’s hair and Samson toppling the temple. In a large sarcophagus lies the last archbishop of L., B. Gunarsson (1521). The upper basilica externally features the two towers of the 12th century, and internally its great vaults were rebuilt after the fire of 1234. The stalls date from the second half of the 14th century, as does 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. grew ever more prosperous, and the archiepiscopal see became a major center. Among its prelates are Eskil (1127–77), Absalon (1177–1201), Anders Suneson (1201–22), Jakob Erlandsson, and Jens Grand. With the Reformation L. declined. It began to flourish again from 1668, when it became the seat of an important university where the Faculty of Medicine and a very rich library developed greatly. King Charles XII (1715–18) made L. his residence.
LUNETTA. — Architecturally, a lunette is the space formed by the intersection of a vault with a flat surface; thus in a bay covered by a groin, sail, or barrel vault, lunette is the space between one pair of responds and the next. Depending on the arch that generates it, the lunette may be semicircular, pointed, or depressed.
From the earliest Christian times the painted decoration of lunettes is very common, executed in fresco (cubicles of the catacombs), in mosaic (mausoleum of Galla Placidia and S. Vitale in Ravenna), or in inlay (Baptistery of the Orthodox, also in Ravenna). The decoration of lunettes in atria and especially in cloisters lent itself to cyclical representations; famous examples survive from the Quattrocento onward (Green Cloister of S. Maria Novella in Florence, by Paolo Uccello; the Cloister of the Votive Offerings of the Annunziata by A. Baldovinetti, A. del Sarto, Franciabigio, Pontormo, and Rosso; the cloister of the Certosa of Val d’Ema, by Pontormo, etc.); these usually depict episodes from the life of the order’s saints (cloister of Monteoliveto near Siena, with Stories of St Benedict, by Signorelli and Sodoma; cloister of S. Marco in Florence, with Stories of St Antonino, by Poccetti).
The term lunette is also given to the space above a door, between the arch and the lintel, and hence to the semicircular relief panel often used there, and in general to any semicircular carved panel. Door lunettes and bas-reliefs occur in the Romanesque period (13th century: S. Zeno in Verona, S. Clemente in Casauria; 13th century: Pieve in Arezzo, Baptistery in Parma, Duomo in Lucca, etc.) and even more frequently in the Trecento (Duomo in Lucca, Deposition attributed to Nicola Pisano; S. Martino in Pisa, attributed to Andrea da Pontedera). Among the countless Renaissance examples one recalls the innovation in color introduced by Luca della Robbia with his glazed terracotta lunettes, white and polychrome.
Finally, lunette also denotes the semicircular upper part of altarpieces in use from the mid-Quattrocento especially in northern Italy, almost always depicting the Pietà (Cosmè Tura, Louvre; Crivelli, Brera and Vatican Pinacoteca; Lotto, S. Cristina near Treviso, etc.).