Lund

Brief history

Lund is known as the oldest town in present-day Sweden, it is so old that its origins are unclear, but it is believed that it had already existed by the end of the Viking Age.  

In 1048 the city was made an episcopal see and was united with Dalby in 1060. In 1103 it became the see of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lund, whose ecclesiastical province comprised Scandinavia and even Garðar on Greenland. Lund Cathedral was also built sometime around 1103. In 1152, the Norwegian archdiocese of Nidaros was established as a separate province of the church, independent of Lund. Sweden became entitled to an archbishop of its own in 1164, although he was nominally subordinate to the archbishop of Lund. Nowadays it is the diocese of Lund, a diocese in the Church of Sweden.  

In 1085 the Lund Cathedral Scholl was founded by the Danish king Canute the Saint.  It is the oldest school in Scandinavia and one of the oldest in Northern Europe. Many prominent received their educations in this institution.

In 1658 Lund was ceded to Sweden as part of the terms of the Treaty of Roskilde but in 1676 it was recaptured by Denmark during the Scanian War. In 1679 the bloody Battle of Lund was fought just north of the city and ended in a decisive Swedish victory. A short while later, Swedish control of Scania became official through the Peace of Lund. In 1720 Sweden's control over Scania, and hence Lund, was formalised by treaty.

The Academy of Lund, the first Scandinavia's University was founded in 1425, however it was heavily suppressed during the Danish Reformation in 1536. Present-day Lund University was established in 1666.

In 1943, during the Second World War, Lund was bombed by British aircraft, but no deaths were registered, though some people were injured.

During the second half of the XX century the population of Lund doubled, driven in large part by the development of the university and high-tech industries.