page_title: Lund Cathedral
section_title: Foundation and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Lund Cathedral / History / Foundation and construction
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Chor des Doms, Lund, Provinz Skåne, Südschweden English: Choir of the Cathedral, Lund, Skåne County, Southern Sweden
context_page_description: Lund Cathedral is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Sweden in Lund, Scania, Sweden. It is the seat of the Bishop of Lund and the main church of the Diocese of Lund. It was built as the Catholic cathedral of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It is one of the oldest stone buildings still in use in Sweden.
  Lund Cathedral has been called "the most powerful representative of Romanesque architecture in the Nordic countries". At the time of its construction, Lund and the cathedral belonged to Denmark. The main altar was consecrated in 1145 and the cathedral was by that time largely finished; the western towers were built somewhat later. Its architecture show clear influences from contemporary north Italian architecture, conveyed via the Rhine Valley. The earliest architect was named Donatus, though his precise role in the construction of the cathedral is difficult to determine. The new cathedral was richly decorated with stone sculpture, including two unusual statues in the crypt traditionally called "The giant Finn and his wife" about which a local legend has developed.
context_section_description: The earliest written mention of a church in Lund dedicated to Saint Lawrence — the patron saint of Lund Cathedral during the Middle Ages — dates from 1085. Slightly later sources mention both a new and an old church dedicated to Saint Lawrence. During the 1940s, archaeological excavations in the cathedral uncovered the foundations of another church inside the present building. The exact age, shape and function of this predecessor to the cathedral has been a matter of some debate. Most scholars believe that construction of a church on the site of Lund Cathedral was begun sometime during the second half of the 11th century. Some time thereafter a new church was begun in almost the same place, but to a larger design in the form of the present cathedral. Parts of the earlier church may have been incorporated in the walls of the cathedral. The decision to abandon Dalby as a bishopric and make Lund the sole archbishopric in Scandinavia may have prompted the change of plans.
  Apart from the obscurity which thus surrounds the very beginning of the history of the cathedral, the construction of Lund Cathedral is probably among the most well documented among any Romanesque churches. Two contemporary accounts of the building of the cathedral, in the form of the illuminated manuscripts Necrologium Lundense and Liber daticus vetustior, are still preserved in the library of Lund University. Both books contain notes, written in Latin, with dates of the progression of the construction. The oldest part of the cathedral is the large crypt. Its main altar was inaugurated on 30 June 1123, followed by the north (1126) and south (1131) side altars of the crypt. Only then did the cathedral begin to be used. One of the main functions of the crypt appears to have been as a place where baptisms were conducted. The main altar of the cathedral was dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Lawrence on 1 September 1145, by the second archbishop of Lund, Eskil, in a ceremony attended by bishops from present-day Germany, Denmark and Sweden. By then, the construction of the cathedral to more or less its present dimensions was complete.
  Unusually for that time, the architect of the cathedral is known by his name, Donatus. The name appears in both the Necrologium Lundense (as "Donatus architectus") and the Liber daticus vetustior. Donatus may have been responsible for the layout of the crypt and the cathedral above ground as far west as the current north and south portals of the cathedral, although it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about his precise role. The same is true for his successor, possibly a builder named Ragnar. The building erected during the time of Donatus and his successor show clear influences from Romanesque architecture in Lombardy, conveyed via the Rhine Valley. Donatus himself appears to have been from, or at least educated in, Lombardy. Speyer Cathedral in western Germany is stylistically closely related to Lund Cathedral (especially the crypt), and it has been proposed that Donatus came to Lund from Speyer, where construction more or less ceased in 1106 following the death of Emperor Henry IV. Similarities have also frequently been pointed out between Lund Cathedral and Mainz Cathedral, and the design of the apse is similar to that of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht. On a more general level, the origins of the style of Lund Cathedral can be found in Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio (Milan), Modena Cathedral and several churches in Pavia, all in northern Italy. Similar stylistic influences can be seen in other cathedrals in Denmark from the same time, for example in Ribe Cathedral.
  The building of Lund Cathedral must have involved a large number of people and was a collective undertaking. Comparable but somewhat later workshops at Cologne Cathedral and Uppsala Cathedral employed a workforce of about 100 and 60 people, respectively. The project was instrumental in establishing a workshop where local craftsmen could be educated, and thus disseminating artistic influences from continental Europe to Scandinavia. The stone sc
caption: The apse is the most well-preserved part of the original exterior.
exif: {}