Lund Cathedral

The Lund Cathedral is a 12th century Romanesque masterpiece that houses an incredible 14th century astronomical clock. Construction of the Lund Cathedral began around 1085 under King Canute the Holy.

The building was consecrated in 1145 and stands as the most significant example of Romanesque architecture in Scandinavia. It is constructed primarily of light colored sandstone and features twin towers that reach a height of approximately 55 meters (180 feet). For centuries the cathedral served as the seat of the Archbishop of Lund who once oversaw the entire Nordic region.

The astronomical clock, known as Horologium mirabile Lundense, is the real draw to the cathedral. Originally constructed around 1380 and meticulously restored in 1923, the upper section focuses on the movement of the sun and moon against the zodiac while the large dial at the bottom serves as a complex perpetual calendar.

The top section of the astronomical clock focuses on the relationship between the earth and the heavens. It features a 24 hour clock face where a gold sun pointer indicates the time. A long arm on the upper dial hosts a small rotating sphere colored half black and half gold. This ball rotates on its own axis to provide a visual representation of the current moon phase as seen from Earth. An eccentric ring engraved with the twelve signs of the zodiac represents the ecliptic which is the sun's apparent path across the sky. The position of the sun pointer on this ring tells you exactly which zodiac sign the sun is currently occupying.

The bottom section houses the perpetual calendar and is organized into two primary sections that work together to provide chronological information for a two hundred year period.

The Outer Moveable Ring
The outermost ring is a mechanical component that rotates one notch every midnight. It contains three distinct layers of information. The first layer shows the days of the month and the months themselves. The second layer lists the name days of the year, including both modern Swedish names and local medieval name days retrieved from historical cathedral records. The third layer contains the Dominical letters, which are the letters A through G assigned to each day to help determine the day of the week.

The Inner Static Disk
The central portion of the dial remains stationary and serves as a reference table for the moveable outer ring. This inner disk contains a complex grid of numbers and letters corresponding to the years between 1923 and 2123. By aligning the Dominical letter from the outer ring with the specific year on the inner table, you can identify which day of the week a certain date falls on. This section also provides the necessary data to calculate the dates of moveable religious holidays such as Easter.

Twice daily, the clock becomes animated. At noon and three o'clock on weekdays, a procession of the three kings and their servants emerges to pay homage to a figure of Mary and the infant Jesus. This performance is accompanied by the sound of the smallest organ in the cathedral. Above the main faces, two knights also mark the passing of the hours by striking their swords together.

The entire structure represents a medieval geocentric view of the universe where the earth sits at the center while the heavenly bodies revolve around it.Read more