August Quennerstedt was one of many students who have come to Lund since the university opened in 1666. He began his journey towards Lund in August of 1856. The trip from August’s hometown of Rydaholm in the southeastern province of Småland took two days. He was most likely one of the last generations of students to arrive in the city by horse-drawn carriage.  

He arrived in the middle of the night on the 8th of August. He rode along the quaint street Bredgatan, the main street from the north towards the city centre, past tiny houses with gardens and the large trees by campus but didn’t wake up properly until he rode past the cathedral. Seventy years later, he still remembers the colossal towers casting shadows overhead. 

By the middle of the 19th century, the interior of the cathedral had been renovated, the work led by famous architect Georg Brunius. The renovations of the exterior followed shortly after. That colossal shadow that woke August was going to drastically change over the course of just the few years he was a student. Both of the towers were completely rebuilt along with the entire front of the west entrance. The renovations were drawn by another famous Swedish architect active during the turn of the century, Helgo Zetterwall. He is famous for many prestigious buildings around Sweden, most notably the cathedral in the fellow university town of Uppsala. 

This is where you are starting your tour, by the most famous building in Lund. The building that is in all the pictures and on the souvenirs. A recognisable silhouette that makes you think of Lund immediately. But consider that the cathedral as it stands in front of you isn’t actually very old. It was even built to look older than it is. This, that looks can be deceiving, is something that you will want to keep in mind as you follow along on this tour.

Today, this is the historical museum. It was built in 1840 and was supposed to be the bishop’s palace. It was never used as such. In 1849 the bishop traded his house for one of the university’s new ones. Into the old Bishop’s palace moved the zoological institution as well as the institutions of chemistry and physics. However, the university, just like the rest of Lund, was growing at a rapid pace. Only the zoological institution was left in the building by 1886 and it was still cramped. In addition, a large amount of the university’s large zoological collection was exhibited alongside the institution’s lecture halls and book cases. It gave the building the moniker of The Museum of Zoology. 

As a student and future zoologist, August was a regular at the museum. He reminisces about how he would often go there and sketch the many animals on display, which is how he thinks he was chosen to go on one of the first Swedish expeditions to the Arctic. Most likely was that the attendant saw him drawing, and when professor of zoology and geology, Otto Torell, needed someone who could draw, August was mentioned. 

August was himself a professor of zoology between 1880-1902, meaning he was also acting the the director of the museum. His tenure in the position did not see the museum at it’s best. There were problems with the finances and the collections stagnated.  Even though August took money out of his own pocket it still wasn’t ever enough. Out of all the directors he may not be the one remembered most fondly or with the most gratitude. It certainly didn’t help that August was somewhat of a controversial figure. He did not believe in Darwin’s theories on evolution, was deeply religious, leaned conservative politically and was prone to make his opinions known in Swedish newspapers. He is today more fondly remembered by the academic world as the university’s chancellor and an amateur historian.

Esaias Tegnér is one of Sweden’s most famous poets and was active for many years in Lund during his youth. In a letter Tegnér once called Lund somewhat of an “academic hick town”. August certainly agreed when he arrived in Lund, long after Tegnér wrote his famous condemnation of the town. He did find the people to have somewhat of a countryside charm but the buildings were worn down and old-fashioned. It did not impress him at all.

Tegnérsplatsen, where you are standing now, has gone through some major changes since the statue was raised in 1853. The museum of Zoology was already in place, so was the house of the Academic Society AF-borgen, and what is now the main building of the open-air museum Kulturen. Otherwise the buildings tell a different story. Behind Kulturen there are a number of houses preserved from the 18th and early 19th century however most buildings that you can see were built around the turn of the century. 

All of Lund was changing during this time. The city leaves behind its reputation as an “academic hick town” and transforms into a modern university town. The city centre is remade. Farms and small farmhouses are demolished to make space for newer housing. Entire blocks that had previously been farmland were built from the ground up. For the first time the city was beginning to seriously move outside of the medieval constraints of the medieval boundry. The change was so all-encompassing that August could feel himself longing for something simpler. At least in theory, as he makes it clear he does not have to live in the old shacks himself.

Kungshuset (lit. “The Kings house”) was the university’s main building and library. Originally one of the only buildings used solely by the university, the day-to-day operations had slowly started to move out throughout the late 18th and early 19th century. Medicine students were across the street, to the Anatomy house. Which, just to make things confusing, is today known as Archaeologicum but also sometimes called Theologicim. Some institutions were, as mentioned, housed in the museum of zoology, across from AF-borgen. Borgen was for the use of the students, and at the time it was a true fortress with only four corner towers and nothing more. 

The iconic white main building of the university, also designed by Helgo Zetterwall, was built as late as 1882. The same year the Quennerstedt family had their first and only child. Palestra et Odeum, the brick building made to match Kungshuset, was done a year later. In 1856 the court instead held the botanical gardens with its pond and orangery. August compared it to a castle garden with strait paths and high clean-cut bushes. By the middle of the 19th century, it was old-fashioned, too small and needed significant renovations. 

There is one building that was demolished and never got a replacement. Right next to Kungshuset there used to be a three-story brick building that was remembered fondly even though one would not think so based on its nickname. Called Kuggis, it was a play on the Swedish slang word “att kugga”, meaning to fail an exam. Meaning it was affectionately known as something along the lines of “the place where one fails one’s exams”. This name came from an antiquated Swedish entrance exam that was mandatory until the early 19th century. Students who wished to be admitted to university were required to prove their final grades from school by sitting an oral exam at the university they wished to study at. Even though August doesn’t have much good things to day about the exam, he expresses great sadness at it being torn down. A sadness he does not show for the botanical gardens. 

This was the heart of the university for hundreds of years. Both August and his wife Lilly spent many hours here and could during their lifetimes follow the evolution from old to new. Lilly’s perspective may be even more interesting. The daughter of a physics professor, she grew up in close proximity to academia. She would have been able to follow the campus for 90 years, until it looked close to how it does today.

This is Clemenstorget (lit. “Clemens square”), a hub of activity. There are constantly people on their way to and from the train or fram. It’s always overflowing with bikes. During the days there and market stalls and during the evenings the restaurants take over. It may come as a shook then, that as late as the 1840s this was where Lund had its very own whipping post. After it was removed, this square was mostly a patch of mud for half a century. It wasn’t even called Clemenstorget, a name it was given much later, but was called Isak’s square by the locals. 

In 1856, there was nothing here. There were some small houses and farms around and the bustling town was close by but it was far more accurate to call it countryside than city centre. Except maybe for the brand new railway that could take passengers between Lund and Malmö. It wasn’t open for travel until December that year and August remembers walking alongside it as it was being finished. Or rather he remembers following a step behind his brother and brother’s professor as they discussed the railway.
Isak’s square became Clemen’s square only by 1890. By then Lund had grown at a record pace. In 1840 there was a population of around 4000, in 1890 that number had surpassed 15 000. The city had to expand. Clemenstorget was part of the northeast expansion warranted by the new district around the hospital and the All Saints Church (Allhelgonakyrkan). Throughout the years new buildings had been erected, mostly ones related to the railway, and on the other side of the tracks industry and working class neighbourhoods had started to pop up. It would however be another ten years before the square would be recognisable for us today.

This is Kråkelykan. Kråkelyckan (lit. “Kråkas field”) follows outside of the northwestern border of the medieval city boundry. Just like everything outside of the city it was just a field. When August describes leaving Lund again to visit his home, he remembers that he didn’t even take note of it. It simply passed him by.

In 1860 the physics professor Adam Wilhelm Ekelund bought the field. In 1874 he gave most of it to his daughter Lilly and son in-law August, who had at that point been married for a couple of years and wished to build their own home. When professor Ekelund passed, Lilly inherited the entirety of Kråkelyckan, all 11 acres. The northeastern part of the field became their home. The young couple built their own villa with a garden, but the rest, what you now stand in front of, remained as farmland. In 1911, Lilly and August donated large parts of Kråkelyckan to two different organisations. Both donations were made to the memory of their daughter Blenda, who passed the year before.  

You are now standing on land that was given to an association that were working to build a completely new school house for Lund’s largest all-girls school. It was inaugurated in 1914 and was later renamed after the school’s first director, Elisabeth Lindeberg. The students showed their gratitude in a way that is today fairly unconventional. The entire school, students and staff, walked together to the couples villa after classes were done for the day and performed songs and held a grand speech. According to the morning paper the next day, this display was greatly appreciated by Lilly and August.

The other organisation that was give land in the 1911 donation was one that specialised in the care of people who had incurable diseases. They didn’t aim to build a school, but to build what would become one of Sweden’s first care homes for elderly people. The organisation was founded 1902 on the initiative of the famous philanthropist and teacher Maria Ribbing, who was also a good friend of Lilly and August. The first board members included doctor and professor of medicine Seved Ribbing as the Chair, August as Vice Chair, with Lilly and Maria as regular board members. “The Home”, as it was called, was finished in 1915. Lilly and August were highly active in working to find funding to actualise the planned hospice and even after it was up and running both of them continued to be active in the organisation. They donated both money and furniture and Lilly was a frequent visitor to the home. 

Healthcare was an issue very close to the hearts of Lilly and August. Both of their philanthropic efforts were in large part contributing to the type of privately funded welfare that the bourgeoisie was responsible for. This passion in Lilly and August may have been because of their daughter, Blenda. Blenda suffered from life-long chronic illness as well as some kind of neurodivergency, though we cannot know exactly what. She lived with her parents  and required extra care until she died, 28 years old. Lilly and August were very close to their daughter and they were often out and about in Lund, doing things such as attending events or gymnastics.

Blenda’s cabin is one of Sweden’s oldest preserved playhouses (in Swedish, lekstuga), built in 1904 for Blenda. The word “playhouse” has shifted in the last century, because when it was built a “playhouse” was more of a place for social life rather than a place only for child’s play. The architect was Henrik Sjöström, a student of Helgo Zettervall who himself has been meaningful in shaping the look of Lund. He designed a number of houses around Clemenstoget, among others. The cabin was modeled after a cabin specific to August’s home province of Småland. 

When walking towards the house, imagine a completely different sight than the one before you right now. In addition to the house, Lilly and August also built a garden. It was designed to resemble the landscape of Småland that August held very close to heart. The couple ordered flowers, trees, shrubs and even stones, which were transported all the way from Småland. Perhaps the most striking feature is the tall pine trees scattered across the grounds. This tree, although common throughout Sweden, does not naturally grow this far south. In addition to the Småland flora, plants of all kinds from all over Scandinavia were planted. Everything from recognisable wood anemones to rare ferns. In a list of the plants in the garden, August recorded over 200 different species.

This piece of land meant nothing to August in 1856. Nor to Lilly. In 1856, there was nothing here – this was where the city ended.

But then the couple built their house here. After they had been married for a few years, they hired Helgo Zettervall to design a house. The result is right in front of you. Three stories with a tower, smooth white walls and discreetly decorated facades with green-painted windows and doors. Imagine this, from the perspective of a regular person living in Lund, a magnificent building in the middle of a Småland glade in the middle of a Scanian field.

Inside the house, it was just as lavish. Doors and walls were decorated and embellished. The couple invested in fine furniture and hung expensive paintings in every room. However, they skimped on some necessities. Water continued to be fetched from a well in the yard, no telephone was installed, and the couple refused to switch from oil lamps to electricity for as long as they could. They were reluctantly forced to install electricity when there was a shortage of kerosene during World War One. 

Despite its rather old-fashioned character, the house was very lively. In addition to the family and their servants, the house had many and frequent visits from many notable people. Lilly and August were very active in the local community, and in the house they hosted dinners and parties with the elites of Lund. Well-known figures from both the university and the Scanian nobility were regular guests. Sometimes, there were even particularly distinguished visitors. When king Oscar II was to be promoted and become an honorary doctor in 1893, the Crown Prince, future King Gustav V, stayed at the Quennerstedt house. Selma Lagerlöf, one of Sweden’s most famous authors and Nobel Laureate, attended a dinner party. Prussian nobility stayed overnight. Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, who later in life started an important ethnological archive, The Folklife Archives, even lived with his uncle August and aunt Lilly when he first came to Lund. He was not related to the Quennerstedt family, but they were very close family friends.

The villa and garden were given to Ribbingska after the couples deaths and are still in use today.

The Quennerstedt family could watch the construction of the All Saints Church from their own window. The Bishop’s Garden, as the area is called on a map from 1875, would become a new focal point for expansion northwards. The church was among the very first buildings to be built, just outside the old northern gate. The name comes from the medieval monastery that stood close to the site.

Once again, Helgo Zettervall was commissioned to design it. It was fittingly inaugurated on All Saints’ Day in 1891.  Lilly was there with the then nine-year-old Blenda. The plan was to inaugurate it a year earlier, but in order to make room for all the decorations, it had to be postponed. The inauguration was packed to the point of some people having to stand outside during the ceremony.

From here, you can look out over Kråkelyckan and imagine the change Lilly and August witnessed during their lifetime. There were so few buildings at first that, if you stood at the top, you could see all the way to Copenhagen, if August is to be believed. It wasn’t only Lund that was changing. Alongside the physical changes in the landscape, there was a huge social upheaval. When Lilly died in 1936, she was largely a product of a world that simply no longer existed. There had been a world war, and soon there would be another. Women were now welcome at university, even though there were not very many of them. The bourgeoisie as it existed at the turn of the century was dying. One can only imagine how Lilly experienced this new world.

You are now once again approaching the end of the world. You are walking along the medieval city boundry, even a little outside it. When August reflects on seeing this part of the town the first time he compares it to the beautiful and reverent lyrics of the poet Tegnér. August specifically refers to the incomplete work Gerda. He refers to the prologue, titled ‘Jätten Finn’ (lit. “The Giant Finn”) and recounts the legend of how the titular giant who lived here on Helgonabacken (lit. “The saints hill”) was banished to his crypt. August was not impressed by either Helgonabacken itself nor the giant. He commented on the legend and noted that in Småland you could see actual, impressive traces of ‘real trolls’.

For most of Lund’s history Helgonabacken separated the city from the surrounding farmland. It was a lush green area dating back to the medieval monastery and although August personally thought it was substandard, Helgonabacken was a popular green area for the people of Lund to enjoy. Lilly and August were certainly there several times, despite August’s disappointment at how unassuming it was compared to Småland; it was a very popular place to take walks and socialise.
After the turn of the century, Helgonabacken was also affected by the expansion northwards. Behind the church and right by the hill, new hospital buildings began to be erected. In 1907, the new University Library, designed by Alfred Hellerström and located in the middle of Helgonabacken was inaugurated. Under the leadership of August’s successor at the Department of Zoology, the Zoological Museum also moved to a brand new building a bit behind the the new library in 1921. In addition, one would have to pass it to walk from Kråkelyckan to the new botanical garden.

When August arrived in the city, the botanical garden in Lundagård was old-fashioned and impractically located. Tornalyckan, an area east of the old city boundary, had been managed by the university since the early 1800s but had remained largely unused. Between 1862 and 1867, a completely new garden was created under the direction of botanist Jacob Georg Agardh. 

Neither August nor Lilly had any obvious connection to the botanical garden. Their greatest expression of any particular interest in botany was in their own garden in Kråkelyckan. It is in fact that very garden that brings you here now.

By all accounts, their garden was impressive and astonishing, but was also left largely to its own devices. It was probably well maintained but also somewhat overgrown and with charmingly messy flower beds. When Lilly died and the land was donated to the hospice, it underwent a drastic change to better suit its new purpose. Today, only the slightly conspicuous mixture of conifers and the man-made rock formations gives any indication of the garden that once stood there.

The best approximation of what the Quenerstedt garden actually looked like during their lifetime is probably here, in The Botanical Garden Take a moment to stroll through paths and imagine that you are still in Lilly and August’s garden. Look up at the trees, smell the flowers and spare a thought for the province of Småland.

Lilly and August were deeply involved in student life at Lund University. Both were in various ways active in the Academic Association and the student nations. August was, of course, enrolled in Småland’s Nation as a student and continued to be involved there after his graduation. He was a curator and notary and eventually became an honorary member in 1888. He and Lilly used to contribute both donations and labour at various markets on behalf of both the Academic Association and Småland’s Nation. Lilly was also a second generation Småland’s Nation. Her father was from Småland and also an honorary member.

But you now are standing outside Lund’s Nation. Outside of Lund’s Nation house, which was built some thirty years after their deaths. In addition Småland’s old nation house, built at about the same time as Lund’s Nation house, is also just around the corner. Why stop here? Well, it’s obvious that August would be a member of Småland’s nation. What is perhaps more unexpected is that he was the serving inspector, one of the highest-ranking members of a nation, at Lund’s nation.

We can’t know what the students thought of their Småland-born inspector with his unfamiliar accent. Until 1970, students had to have a connection to their nation’s region of origin, which made it an important social gathering place for out of town students. The differences between different provinces and regions were generally greater, and before the railway, many students had likely never travelled outside the region where they grew up. As August points out, a person from Småland at Lund’s Nation would not have been an everyday occurrence. But there was reason to believe that it was not particularly remarkable. As a professor, one had more mobility and August had lived his entire adult life in Lund. 

August remained active in nation life throughout his life.

This is the last stop on your tour. Ironically, it was August’s first.

When he arrived in Lund on that August night in 1856, his destination was his older brother’s residence. His brother lived in a student barrack, the 19th century equivalent of a student corridor. For a long time, students boarded with one of their professors, but by the 19th century this model had become unsustainable. There were too many students. Instead of boarding, so-called host families began running businesses where they rented out small rooms and cleaning services specifically catered towards students. These were called student kaserner (lit. “student barracks”) and were in their form specific to Lund. At its peak, one third of all students lived in this type of housing. One “student barrack” could accommodate anywhere from four to fifteen students. Towards the end of the 19th century, it began to lose in popularity. The rooms were often poorly maintained and lacked running water.

Of course, August saw Bredgatan, Lundagård and the cathedral when he first arrived in Lund. Of course, he remembers the guided tour his brother gave him on his second day in the city. Of course, like all Lund residents over the years, he had created thousands of memories around the city during his life there. However, August’s first impression of Lund was, despite all, this: a lantern shone right in his face by the woman who ran the barracks and what August perceived as an insult. At least it sounds like he perceived the woman calling him “the little Quennerstedt” as an insult, because he continues by clarifying that she must have meant it as “the younger Quennerstedt” since he was in fact not smaller than his brother. 

If there is one thing you should remember from this city tour, just a single thing, it is perhaps that August Quennerstedt was in fact taller than his brother.