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Lund [lʊnː] is a city in Scania in southernmost Sweden, and the center of the Lund Municipality. The town is, according to recent archaeological diggings, claimed to be founded in year 990 A.D. by the Danish king Sweyn I Forkbeard, and hence celebrated its 1,000 year anniversary in 1990.
The city has today around 74,000 inhabitants with a population density of 2,138/km² — however, an unknown number of students are believed to be unaccounted for.
In 990, the then 1000-year old town Uppåkra is believed to have been moved to Lund's location. The distance is only some five kilometers, but Lund is located on a hill, and on the other side of a rivulet-ford, giving the new site considerable defence advantages compared to Uppåkra, that is situated on the highest point of a rather large plain. Beside new techniques of warfare, the relocation is believed to signify the process of unification of Denmark.
The city was made see in 1060, and in 1103 made the site of the first archbishop in Scandinavia. The Lund Cathedral was similarly founded in or shortly after 1103. During the 12th century, Norway and Sweden got archbishops of their own, but Lund with its bishop remained Scandinavia's religiously and culturally leading city until the Protestant Reformation in 1536.
In 1658, the entire province of Scania was ceded by Denmark to Sweden by the Treaty of Roskilde. On December 4 in 1676 it was defended at the Battle of Lund, one of the bloodiest battles fought in Scandinavia.
Lund University, established in 1666, is one of Sweden's largest with 41,000 students, though not all students actually live in Lund. Another famous educational institution in Lund is the Lund Cathedral School (Katedralskolan), founded in 1085 by the Danish king Canute the Saint. This is the oldest school in Scandinavia and one of the oldest in Northern Europe. The school is also one of the most prestigeous schools in Sweden, and many wellknown people have attended it, among those actor Max von Sydow and several high ranking politicians.
As an unavoidable consequence of Lund being located on a hill, the city has a considerable difference in altitude — to particular disadvantage for the many who use bikes as their main means of transportation. The difference in altitude is about 80 meters from the lowest point in the south to the highest point in the north.
Lund is also home to the Tetra Pak company that markets paper packaging machinery for milk and orange juice all over the world. Sony Ericsson develops cell phone handsets in Lund. Other important industries include pharmaceuticals, electronics, and publishing and library services.
Notable natives
See also
External links
- Lund (http://www.lund.se/) - Official site
- LundaPortalen (http://www.lundaportalen.com/) - Independent webportal
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