Lund

City in Malmöhus county, province of Skåne, southwestern Sweden, 16 km/10 mi northeast of Malmö; population (2000 est) 98,900. Industries include telecommunications, computing, and the manufacture of packaging material and medical equipment. It is famous for its 11th-century cathedral and the university, which dates from 1668.

History Lund is one of the oldest cities in Sweden, with a history reaching back 1000 years, and is thought to have been founded by the Danish Viking king Svend Tveskaeg. A centre of ecclesiastical and royal power, it housed Denmark's largest mint from the early 12th century. In 1103 the city was made the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia, and the cathedral was consecrated in 1145. By the 13th century, Lund was the most important city in Denmark. However, Lund started to decline in importance at the end of the Middle Ages when the mint was removed. During the Reformation the archbishopric was abolished, estates belonging to the church were appropriated by the state, and most of the churches and monasteries in the town were torn down. Lund fell to Sweden in 1658. The Danes unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim Lund during the Scanian war (1676–79), and one of the bloodiest battles was fought at Lund in 1676. Lund University is the largest in Scandinavia, with 34,000 students.

Features The cathedral is Scandinavia's foremost example of Romanesque architecture, and also contains a 14th-century astronomical clock. The Kulturen (cultural history museum) is the one of the oldest open-air museums in the world. IDEON (1983) is Sweden's oldest and largest science park.