Lund University Main Building

The city of Lund has a long history as a center for learning and was the ecclesiastical centre and seat of the archbishop of Denmark. A cathedral school for the training of clergy was established in 1085 and is today Scandinavia's oldest school. A studium generale (a medieval university education) was founded in 1425, although it was not until 1438 that education was started by the Franciscan order for a baccalaureus degree.

The curent main building of the Lund University was designed by architect Helgo Zettervall and inaugurated by King Oscar II in 1882. Construction began in 1874, when the old main building Kungshuset had become too small for the growing number of students.

The design is characterised by Helgo Zettervall's fascination with classical antiquity, and features columns and fancy copings. There were originally four sphinxes on the roof, but they had to be removed after some 30 years because of bad quality. In the 1990s four new sphinxes were located on the roof. Like many of Zettervall's buildings, it was criticized for a lack of uniformity and not being well thought out.

Address
Paradisgatan, Lund, Sweden

Established
1882