Lund is one of Scandinavia's oldest cities, with an eventful and sometimes dramatic Danish-Swedish history. Here, we tell the story of Lund in brief and provide tips for further exploration.
Five kilometers south of Lund, Uppåkra was established around 100 BC and existed for about 1,000 years. At its peak, Uppåkra had nearly 1,000 inhabitants, making it one of the earliest town-like settlements in Scandinavia.
During the 10th century, Skåne was loosely connected to the Danish kingdom, with prominent kings such as Sweyn Forkbeard and Canute the Great. Around 990, Lund appears in history. The town became the Danish king's and the Christian mission's city. 1103 Lund became an archbishopric. Initially, Lund was the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia, but after half a century, Norway and Sweden got their own archbishoprics. In 1085, the church received a very significant donation, which financed the construction of Lund Cathedral, completed in 1145. The church is in Romanesque style. The cathedral also had a special cathedral school, today's Katedralskolan at the high school level. By now, Lund was established as a religious and educational center. During the 12th century, Lund was Denmark's and Scandinavia's largest and most important city, with an estimated 3,000–4,000 inhabitants.
Katedralskolan in the early 1890s.
Martin Luther, a German monk, began a powerful reformation of the Catholic Church in 1517. The Lutheran faith quickly became successful throughout the Baltic Sea region. In Denmark, the Reformation was carried out more quickly and violently than in Sweden. Lund was particularly affected. King Christian III abolished the archbishopric in Lund in 1536. He also ordered that almost all churches in the city be demolished, with the exceptions of the Cathedral and St. Peter's Monastery Church in the west.
During the 17th century, there was a shift in the military power balance between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden became a regional power, and at the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Denmark had to cede, among other territories, Skåne to the Swedes. Thus, Lund has been a Swedish city since 1658. Soon after, something very positive happened. Lund got a university, and teaching began in 1668. However, Denmark wanted to reclaim Skåne, and a new war broke out in the 1670s. The university had to close. The Danes were successful for a long time, but on December 4, 1676, a battle took place just north of Lund, the bloodiest in Nordic history with about 10,000 dead. A monument erected more than 200 years after the bloodbath commemorates the event. The Swedes, under the command of their young king Charles XI, won after the long day's battle.
In 1862, Lund had 8,919 inhabitants. That may not sound like much, but Lund was still the 7th largest city in Sweden by population, larger than, for example, Uppsala and Helsingborg. In the early 1860s, Sweden began to be connected through railway construction. This meant that in 1856, one could travel by train from Lund to Malmö, and by 1864, one could travel all the way from Lund to Stockholm or Gothenburg.
At the end of the 19th century, Lund University expanded beyond its previous boundaries. Particularly important was the establishment of the Botanical Garden in the 1860s, a university institution that the inhabitants of Lund have greatly enjoyed and continue to enjoy. In the city center, the new university building in classical style, inspired by the Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, was added in 1882. In 1873, the Swedish Parliament decided that women should be allowed to study at the university, but it wasn't until 1880 that the first female student was enrolled at Lund University. Closely associated with the university was the Cultural Historical Association for Southern Sweden, or Kulturen as it came to be called. Along with Skansen in Stockholm, Kulturen was the first open-air museum in the world and is unique in that it was given a space in the center of Lund.
During the late 19th and 20th centuries, there was a migration from the countryside to the cities. The cities grew, including Lund, though not as much as other cities. Lund acquired new industries, but success took time. Ruben Rausing was convinced that the food trade would be revolutionized. Packaging would become very important. Thus, Åkerlund & Rausing was established in Lund in 1938. From this company, Tetra Pak emerged, becoming a global company.
One of Ruben Rausing's closest associates was Holger Crafoord. He had funds that could be used for research on the artificial kidney. Thus, Gambro was founded, an important company both in Lund and globally.
How many inhabitants are there in Lund Municipality? How many will live in the municipality in 2030? Who are the municipality's largest employers? This is the page for those who love statistics, numbers, and future forecasts!
The text above is an excerpt from the brief presentation of Lund's history initiated by the Public Libraries in Lund in 2017, written by Sverker Oredsson, Professor Emeritus of History at Lund University. "The History of Lund. An Introduction" is based on his previous works on the history of Lund. The booklet was available for free at Lund's libraries at the time.
Updated: 2022-01-12
The exhibition tells the story of Lund, a city in the kingdom of Denmark, and its rise as a key religious centre that held sway over the whole church province of Scandinavia. In the Middle Ages, Lund had the most churches of any city in Scandinavia,
So where to go first and what should you not miss? Here are a few ideas.
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Visit Lund AB - a part of Lund Municipality