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Lund University Male Voice Choir at the Lund University main building on 1 May 2005
Lund University observatory
The culture in Lund is characterised by the university education and research, and the large student population, including 28% international students and student traditions, such as a student theatre group since 1886. A substantial part of the student night-life is located at student fraternities called 'Nations'.
Lund Cathedral, the former Catholic and the now Lutheran cathedral in Lund, is the seat of the bishop of Lund of the Church of Sweden.
Lund also has a city theatre (though without a professional local ensemble of its own) and a number of other places for concerts and theatres.
Literature, theatre and cinema[edit]
Numerous prominent figures from the literary world lived and worked in Lund, often in association with the university and theatre. Prominent examples include Esias Tegnér, writer, poet and bishop, and August Strindberg, playwright, novelist and poet. A longer list is given below with other notable natives. The Lund novel is a genre in its own right, a bildungsroman in which a young student experiences life in Lund, Copenhagen and sometimes Österlen whilst maturing as an individual.
The Lund novel is exemplified by the work of Fritiof Nilsson Piraten and Frank Heller.[citation needed]
The spex are a form of student theatre particular to Nordic universities, with a strong tradition in Lund. They are parodistic musical plays, often setting well-known music to new lyrics and mixing up the historical and the present in unconventional intrigues. Comedians Hans Alfredson and Anders Jansson started their careers in the Lund spex.
The concluding scenes in Ingmar Bergman's classic film Wild Strawberries are set in Lund.
The Lund International Architecture Film Festival is held annually in the autumn.
Lund joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was named a UNESCO City of Literature in October 2025. Lund became the second Swedish literature city after Gothenburg. The city promotes young people from the university in field of literature and hosts annually "Litteralund", the largest festival in Sweden for child literature.
Museums[edit]
The Bosmåla cottage is part of the open-air museum Kulturen, which hosts a collection of historical Scanian buildings.
Lund hosts the largest open-air museum of Scania, Kulturen. Kulturen is the second oldest dedicated open-air museum in the world. Founded in 1892 by Georg Karlin, it consists of more than 30 buildings, as well as collections exhibiting Scanian art, crafts, local archaeology and history.
Several museums are attached to the university. The Lund University Historical Museum is based in the Lundagård park. Its exhibitions were updated in 2018 and cover the history, archeology and zoology of Scania. There is a separate Lund Cathedral museum.
The Museum of Sketches for Public Art is a unique museum that documents the development of public artworks. The Vattenhallen Science Center, connected to the university's engineering faculty, has an interactive presentation of science and research.
Lundakarnevalen[edit]
Lundakarnevalen has been held every four years since the mid-nineteenth century; anecdotal accounts reference its beginnings to a wedding in 1849 (the four-year intervals place the party in 2002, 2006, 2010, etc.). Arranged by the students of the university, from the 1950s onwards the event has grown in size and intensity (with some 5,500 volunteers 2010), but it remains an amateur event. Midway between a music and stage fair, a city festival, and an outpouring of satire, parody and general madness. Some students dress up in costumes, often relating to and poking fun at current issues, and parade in wagons. Others perform humorous skits in the evenings. The carnival revues and other stage entertainments have launched a number of well-known entertainers and actors over the years.[citation needed]
Music[edit]
Lund's cultural venue, Mejeriet
Lund has long been a regional centre for classical and church music. In particular, Lund is renowned for its vibrant amateur choir scene, with choirs such as Carolinae damkör, Domkyrkokören, Katedralkören, Lunds akademiska kör, Lund Chamber Choir (Swedish: Lunds Kammarkör), Lunds Studentsångförening, Lunds vokalensemble, and the Svanholm Singers. Since 2006, Lund has been the host of the biannual Lund International Choral Festival. Classical orchestras based in the city include the Lund City Orchestra, the Academic Orchestra and Lund New Chamber Orchestra.
In more recent decades, Lund has also developed a lively pop and jazz scene. The cultural venue Mejeriet opened in 1987 in a former dairy building just outside the city park. It has hosted concerts by both well-known and emerging bands. The pop singer and television presenter Måns Zelmerlöw was born and grew up in Lund. Artists associated with Lund include DJ and record producer Axwell, rock musician Kal P. Dal, rapper Timbuktu, indie pop group The Radio Dept., and singer and songwriter Amanda Jenssen. The music venue Olympen, hosted many famous artists from 1971 to 2009.
Sports[edit]
The Sparbanken Skåne Arena is a large sports hall adjoining the city park in Lund. Until 2014 it was known as the Färs och Frosta Sparbank Arena.
Lund's handball team, LUGI HF has played in both the men's and women's top leagues. Lund hosted matches from the 2011 Handball World Championship in the Sparbanken Skåne Arena. Lund has a chess team, Lunds ASK, that for decades has been among the top teams in Sweden. Lund has two Division 1 football clubs, Torns IF and Lunds BK. It is also the birthplace of the online football manager game Hattrick. Lugi Rugbyklubb, based in Lund, is one of Sweden's few rugby clubs.[citation needed] Lund has a boxing association called Lunds Boxningssällskap.
