The southwest - The Rough Guide to Sweden - page 163

5

Tzatziki Roskildegatan 2 T 042 13 21 85. With a
predictably blue-and-white colour scheme, the food here is
anything but predictable - genuinely, tasty Greek
specialities such as calamari, marinated chicken skewers

and Greek yoghurt with honey and walnuts. There's also a
large selection of meze (35-89kr). Mon-Thurs 4-10pm,
Fri & Sat till 11pm.

Lund
“There is a very tangible Lund spirit - those with it have … an ironic distance to
everything, including themselves and Lund, a barb to deflate pompous self-
importance”, wrote the Swedish essayist Jan Mårtensson. His compatriot, poet Peter
Ortman, for his part once described what he termed “Lund syndrome”: “a mix of
paranoia, exhibitionism and megalomania”. Whatever it is about the place, there is
indeed a special spirit to LUND - a sense of tolerance (it's more relaxed than other
Swedish cities), and a belief that people should be judged by what they do, not by what
they have.
A few kilometres inland and 54km south of Helsingborg, Lund's reputation as a
glorious old university city is well founded. An ocean of bikes is the first image to greet
you at the train station, and like Oxford in England - with which Lund is usually aptly
compared - there is a bohemian, laidback eccentricity in the air. With a twelfth-
century Romanesque cathedral , medieval streets lined with a variety of architectural
styles, and a wealth of cafés and restaurants, Lund is an enchanting little city that could
well captivate you for a couple of days; it has a wide range of museums , a couple of
them excellent, a mix of architectural grandeur, plus the buzz of student life. While
Lund does lose much of its atmosphere during the summer months, some places
remain open through June to August.

The Domkyrkan
Kyrkogatan 6 • Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 9.30am-5pm, Sun 9.30am-6pm • Free
The magnificent Domkyrkan is built of storm-cloud charcoal and white stone, giving it
an imposing monochrome appearance. Before going inside, have a look round the back
of the building; on the way there, you'll notice the grotesque animal and bird gargoyles
over the side entrances, their features blunted by eight centuries of weathering. At the
very back, the most beautiful part of the exterior, the three-storey apse above the crypt,
is revealed, crowned with an exquisite gallery.

The interior
The majestic interior is surprisingly unadorned, an elegant mass of watery-grey
ribbed stone arches and stone-flagged flooring. One of the world's finest
masterpieces of Romanesque architecture, the cathedral was built in the twelfth
century when Lund became the first independent archbishopric in Scandinavia,
laying the foundation for a period of wealth and eminence that lasted until the
advent of Protestantism. There are several striking features, such as the elaborately

LUND ORIENTATION
Lund is a wonderful town to wander around, its cobbled streets festooned with climbing roses.
To help get your bearings, it's worth noting that the main thoroughfare changes its name
several times. In the centre, it's called Kyrkogatan; to the north, Bredgatan (there's no need to
venture further north than the pretty old brick house at no. 16); to the south, Stora Södergatan.
Lundagård (the city's academic heart), the Domkyrkan and Stortorget are all along this
route. Lund's crowning glory is its cathedral; just 100m north of Stortorget, and only a short
walk east from the station, it is the obvious place to begin your exploration.