Kungshuset, the "King's House", is a building in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, built by the

Danish king This is a list of Monarchy of Denmark, Danish monarchs, that is, the kings and queens regnant of Denmark. This includes: * The Kingdom of Denmark (up to 1397) ** Personal union of Denmark and Norway (1380–1397) * The Kalmar Union (1397–1536) ...

Frederick II between 1578 and 1584 and originally intended as the residence for the

bishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Danish Reformation the centre of a great Latin (arch)bishopric, Lund has been in Sweden since the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The Diocese of Lund is now one of thirteen in the Church of Sweden. Cathol ...

. After the secession of the Scanian lands to Sweden at the Treaty of Roskilde 1658

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Charles XI of Sweden donated the building to the university in 1688 to serve as its main building and library. Until around 1800 the entire university was contained in Kungshuset, which as well as the library contained a theatre for the demonstration of anatomical dissection. The building was used as an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

by, amongst others, the university's first astronomer,

Anders Spole Anders Spole (13 June 1630 – 1 August 1699) was a Swedish mathematician and astronomer. He was born at a farm in , the son of blacksmith Per Andersson and his wife Gunilla Persdotter.Stjernquist, Otto (2006). "Om Anders Spole och hans ättlinga ...

. An often related local legend has it that king

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of t ...

, who resided in Lund for a time between campaigns in the 1710s, rode up the wide wooden stairs in the tower. The legend is easily debunked, as the tower was added to the building only later in the 18th century. The house held the University Library in the mid-19th century, but was in a bad shape, with a leaking roof for instance. The professor of

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

at the time, Carl Georg Brunius, whose prolific work as an amateur architect is seen in many characteristic Lund buildings, took it as upon himself to improve the condition of the building. Until 2014 Kungshuset housed the Department of Philosophy. The nearest buildings are the towering

Lund Cathedral Lund Cathedral ( sv, Lunds domkyrka) 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 archiepi ...

located 50 meters south, and the 19th century main building of the university immediately to the north.

References

* Pamphlet ''Kungshuset'' that can be acquired in the building {{Coord, 55, 42, 18.9, N, 13, 11, 38.5, E, region:SE_type:landmark, display=title Lund University Buildings and structures in Lund