Lund University is one of northern Europe's oldest, largest, and most prestigious universities, consistently ranking among the world's top 100 universities. The university, located in the city of
Lund in the province of
Scania,
Sweden, traces its roots back to 1425, when a
Franciscan studium generale was founded in Lund next to the
Lund Cathedral (with baccalaureates education started in 1438), making it the oldest institution of higher education in Scandinavia followed by
studia generalia in
Uppsala in 1477 and
Copenhagen in 1479. After Sweden won Scania from Denmark in the 1658
Treaty of Roskilde, the university was founded in 1666 on the location of the old
studium generale next to
Lund Cathedral.