Yesterday, we toured the Lund Cathedral that is situated in the middle of town, here in Lund, Sweden. It is the oldest church in the Nordic region, built in 1080's. The Cathedral School was established in 1085, making it Scandinavia's oldest school.
This is only a couple blocks from our hotel so it is an easy walking distance. In fact, everything in Lund is within walking distance. It is a town of 110,000 people but residents here say that 50,000 are the students at Lund University which is also a couple blocks away. It is so fun walking around the quaint streets and looking at all the historical buildings.
It is definitely a college town but a very cute college town. The Lund Cathedral really stands out with it's mighty twin towers. It is a Lutheran cathedral but was build as a Catholic cathedral until the Swedish Reformation in the 1500's which meant a break with the Catholic church and made Sweden a Protestant county. Pope Francis is coming here in October for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in Lund which will include a prayer service in the Lund Cathedral.
Services are held here everyday and there have been daily services here for the last 900 years. One of the most famous sites of this cathedral is the astrological clock.
This clock dates back to 1425. It was in storage since 1837 and then was restored and put back in place in 1923. It shows the signs of the zodiac and the phases of the moon and chimes twice a day while the three wise men and their servants pass and bow before the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. They come out to a musical Christmas chime twice a day, at noon and 3:00 pm. It reminds me of It's a Small World at Disneyland. (There are lots of YouTube videos of it) On the very top of the clock are two wooden knights that mark the top of the hour by coming alive and hitting each other with their swords. The upper board of the clock is the astronomical clock. It shows, among other things, the different phases of the Moon and where the Sun sets. The lower board of the clock is a calendar where you can, among other things, calculate on which weekday a certain date will fall or when different mobile religious holidays will fall. In the middle of the calendar is Saint Lawrence, the Patron Saint of the Cathedral. The current board of the clock goes from 1923 to 2123, after which a new one will be needed so that the clock can still be used. I liked old Father Time pointing to the current date.
We had a guide from the cathedral explained all of this to us. She looked very official, wearing the cathedral emblem.
Next, we looked at the worship area with the carved oak choir stalls that date back to the mid-1300s. They actually use these to this day. I would think they ought to be in a museum or something being that old.
There were lots of carvings on the wooden choir stalls that depicted stories from the Bible.
There are five organs in the cathedral and I'm sure they sound magnificent.
Another popular part of the cathedral is the crypt down below. It has remained largely untouched since its consecration in 1123.
It is known for it's numerous and densely built pillars.
The crypt's main altar is the oldest altar in the church, dated 1123.
The are many chests and grave slabs in the crypt, of course, of many famous archbishops and works of art decorating them.
One of the famous pillars is the one with the statue of a man embracing it. Local legend tells that the figure is Finn the Giant, builder of the cathedral. He was then outraged at not being paid and wanted to destroy the cathedral. Instead, he was tricked, shrunk and turned to stone. And to this day, he stands embracing his column. Other interpretations maintain that the stone figure may represent the Biblical character Samson destroying the temple of Jerusalem.
And this was our first official tour of a church in Europe. Many more to come, I'm sure. I feel ridiculous stating the dates on all these things, they are so ancient, like REALLY? I can't even comprehend something being that old. But then, this is only the beginning of my first trip to Europe. I better get use to it.
Fascinating!
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