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Kungshuset

Buildings and structures in LundHistory of LundLund University
Kungshuset Lund 2010
Kungshuset Lund 2010

Kungshuset, the "King's House", is a building in Lund in Sweden, built by the Danish king Frederick II between 1578 and 1584 and originally intended as the residence for the bishop of Lund. After the secession of the Scanian lands to Sweden at the Treaty of Roskilde 1658 Lund University was founded in 1666 to enhance the Swedification of the Danish provinces. King Charles XI of Sweden donated the building to the university in 1688 to serve as its main building and library. Until around 1800 the entire university was contained in Kungshuset, which as well as the library contained a theatre for the demonstration of anatomical dissection. The building was used as an observatory by, amongst others, the university's first astronomer, Anders Spole. An often related local legend has it that king Charles XII of Sweden, who resided in Lund for a time between campaigns in the 1710s, rode up the wide wooden stairs in the tower. The legend is easily debunked, as the tower was added to the building only later in the 18th century. The house held the University Library in the mid-19th century, but was in a bad shape, with a leaking roof for instance. The professor of Greek language at the time, Carl Georg Brunius, whose prolific work as an amateur architect is seen in many characteristic Lund buildings, took it as upon himself to improve the condition of the building. Until 2014 Kungshuset housed the Department of Philosophy. The nearest buildings are the towering Lund Cathedral located 50 meters south, and the 19th century main building of the university immediately to the north.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Kungshuset (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Kungshuset
Universitetsplatsen, Lund Municipality

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N 55.70525 ° E 13.194027777778 °
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Kungshuset

Universitetsplatsen
223 50 Lund Municipality (Centrum)
Sweden
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Kungshuset Lund 2010
Kungshuset Lund 2010
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Lund University

Lund University (Swedish: Lunds universitet) is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden. It traces its roots back to 1425, when a Franciscan studium generale was founded in Lund. After Sweden won Scania from Denmark in the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde, the university was officially founded in 1666 on the location of the old studium generale next to Lund Cathedral. Lund University has nine faculties, with additional campuses in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, with around 45,000 students in 270 different programmes and 1,500 freestanding courses. The university has 650 partner universities in approximately 75 countries and it belongs to the League of European Research Universities as well as the global Universitas 21 network. Among those associated with the university are five Nobel Prize winners, a Fields Medal winner, Prime Ministers, scores of business leaders and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Two major facilities for materials research are in Lund University: MAX IV, a synchrotron radiation laboratory – inaugurated in June 2016, and European Spallation Source (ESS), a new European facility that will provide up to 100 times brighter neutron beams than existing facilities today, to be fully operational by the end of 2027.The university centres on the Lundagård park adjacent to the Lund Cathedral, with various departments spread in different locations in town, but mostly concentrated in a belt stretching north from the park connecting to the university hospital area and continuing out to the northeastern periphery of the town, where one finds the large campus of the Faculty of Engineering.

Lund Cathedral
Lund Cathedral

Lund Cathedral (Swedish: Lunds domkyrka) is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Sweden in Lund, Scania, Sweden. It is the seat of the Bishop of Lund and the main church of the Diocese of Lund. It was built as the Catholic cathedral of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It is one of the oldest stone buildings still in use in Sweden. Lund Cathedral has been called "the most powerful representative of Romanesque architecture in the Nordic countries". At the time of its construction, Lund and the cathedral belonged to Denmark. The main altar was consecrated in 1145 and the cathedral was by that time largely finished; the western towers were built somewhat later. Its architecture show clear influences from contemporary north Italian architecture, conveyed via the Rhine Valley. The earliest architect was named Donatus, though his precise role in the construction of the cathedral is difficult to determine. The new cathedral was richly decorated with stone sculpture, including two unusual statues in the crypt traditionally called "The giant Finn and his wife" about which a local legend has developed. The cathedral was severely damaged in a fire in 1234, and major restoration works were carried out in the early 16th century under the leadership of Adam van Düren. Following the Reformation, the cathedral suffered from lost income and dilapidation. In 1658, the city of Lund and the cathedral became a part of Sweden following the Treaty of Roskilde. Lund Cathedral was the site of the ceremony acknowledging the founding of Lund University in 1668. Repairs were made during the 18th century but in 1832 a complete restoration of the cathedral was recommended. Subsequently, much of the cathedral was restored and rebuilt during most of the 19th century. The work was first led by Carl Georg Brunius and later by architect Helgo Zettervall and not entirely finished until 1893. The changes implemented during the 19th century were extensive; among other things, Zettervall had the entire western part, including the towers, demolished and rebuilt to his own designs. The medieval cathedral contains several historic furnishings and works of art. Its main altarpiece was donated to the cathedral in 1398, and it also contains Gothic choir stalls, bronzes and an astronomical clock from the 15th century (although heavily restored in 1923). When it was built, Lund Cathedral was lavishly decorated with Romanesque stone sculptures. It also contains late medieval stone sculptures from the time of Adam van Düren's renovation. After the Reformation the cathedral was also equipped with a decorated pulpit. Of more recent date is the large mosaic in the apse, by Joakim Skovgaard, installed in 1927. Lund Cathedral has six church organs, one of which is the largest in Sweden, and is also used as a concert venue.