Lund is a city in the Scania region in southern Sweden. The city is full of history, and it is one of the oldest cities in present-day Sweden. It was founded as a market town by Denmark’s King Canute the Great at the end of the 900s, and he established a mint here. It was thus an important city from the beginning, and it was made capital of Denamrk in a short period by King Erik Emune in the 1130s, and the designation Metropolis Daniæ was added.

In 1104, Lund had become the seat of the Nordic archbishop, and up to 4,000 inhabitants lived here. From the 14th century, Lund lost importance in terms of trade, as the port city of Malmö had a better location. However, Lund continued as an ecclesiastical and educational center. In 1658, Lund became Swedish with the Roskilde peace, and a Swedishization began. In the middle of the 19th century, the railway came to the city, and a major industrialization then developed in Lund.

Today, Lund is an interesting city with several attractions in the cozy city centre. Here you can see, for example, Lund University, which was founded in 1666, which is an institution that was established as part of the brutal and non-treaty Swedishization that took place in the lost Danish Scania after 1658. The beautiful main building was built in 1882 according to architect Helgo Zettervall’s drawings. In the Danish era, however, there had been a precursor to the university in the form of the Academy in Lund, Studium Generale, which was founded in 1425. Another well-known educational institution is the Cathedral School, which was established in 1085 by Canute the Holy, and the is thereby the oldest school in what was then Denmark.

Lund Cathedral stands as the most famous attraction in the city. The church was built from around the year 1100 after not least donations from Canute the Saint. In 1145, the original church was completed, and the apse and crypt of it have been preserved to this day. The church was important in the Danish Middle Ages, and many meetings were held here. Several events also took place in the church like Anders Sunesen’s coronation of Valdemar II Sejr.

Incidentally, both took part in the crusade to Estonia in 1219, where the Danish flag of Dannebrog fell from the sky on 15 June. Anders Sunesen is buried in the transept, while the last Danish bishop in Lund, Peder Winstrup, was buried in the crypt. The cathedral’s current towers originate from a reconstruction carried out by Helgo Zettervall at the end of the 19th century. They replaced the medieval ones, and with a height of 65 meters they are a significant feature in the city’s silhouette.

There are also several interesting museums in Lund. As an old university town, collections have been established over time, which can be seen, for example, at the Historiska Museum, which exhibits archaeological and ethnographic collections. The museum is in the house, which was built 1840-1845 as a residence for the city’s bishop, but which was never used as such.

In the city you can visit the Biological Museum, which has botanical, entomological and zoological collections, and in Lund there is a botanical garden with many beautiful plants as well. It is also possible to see Swedish and Nordic contemporary art in the Konsthallen gallery. Of course, you can simply enjoy a walk in the medieval town’s narrow streets such as Lilla Fiskaregatan, Stora Södergatan, Bytaregatan and Skomakaregatan as a god choice for sightseeing when in Lund.