Location

Uppsala, once a great Viking capital, is now the fourth largest city in Sweden, with just under 200,000 residents, about 40,000 of whom are students. Special attractions include the Viking burial mounds, the magnificent cathedral, and the old castle on Uppsala’s highest hill. Stockholm is an hour away; the Baltic Coast and Lake Mälaren are even closer.

Gamla Uppsala (the Old City of Uppsala) was located a few kilometers north of the modern city’s site and was home to the Temple at Uppsala, one of the major pagan sites of Old Europe, and a pilgrimage site for those who followed the Æsir gods. All that remains of the Old City today are its large burial mounds.

Uppsala University, founded in 1477, is the leading university in Sweden and was the academic home of Linnaeus, the father of modern botany; Strindberg, Sweden’s best known dramatist; and Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary General of the United Nations. Five Uppsala scientists have received Nobel Prizes and all the new Nobel laureates (except Peace prize) speak at the Uppsala campus each autumn.

Uppsala University offers research and education in theology, law, medicine, the humanities, the social and behavioral sciences, economics, mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Uppsala has about 40,000 students (3000 at the graduate level). Approximately 30 first-degree programs are offered annually as well as hundreds of courses. Students at the university live in student halls of residence and generally congregate in the Nations, student social clubs that correspond to now-defunct regions of Sweden. The Nations offer social events and fika, a coffee-and-conversation gathering, on a daily basis.

Back to Top