Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/219

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NORWAY AND SWEDEN.
183

imposing building in the Gothic style. Among the objects of interest which we saw in the interior were the sarcophagus of King Erec IX., the Patron Saint of Sweden, who was killed by the Danes in 1160 A.D., and the burial Chapel of Gustavus Vasa, containing marble figures of himself and his two wives, and fresco paintings of scenes from his life. Far more interesting to us were the grave and monument of Charles Linnæus, the father of modern botany, and probably the greatest scientific man that Sweden has produced. The monument is of porphyry with a Bronze medallion on it.

The magnificent new University building of Upsala is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the world. The University of Upsala was founded in the fifteenth century and was richly endowed by Gustavus Adolphus and has about 1700 students. The new University building was commenced in 1877 and has not yet been quite completed. The grand concert hall is decorated in the finest style of workmanship, and the lecture rooms of the different faculties are also exceedingly fine. The stairs are of green Swedish marble, and the ceilings of all the rooms are tastefully decorated with designs in gold.

Not far from the University building is the Carolina Rediviva, a handsome building containing the valuable library of the University, 23,000 volumes. The chief treasure of this library is the famous Code Argenteus, being a translation of the four gospels into Meso-Gothic by Bishop Ulphilas in the 4th century of the Christian era. It is written on 188 leaves of parchment in gold