SCAS News - 9 September, 2022

Villa Lugnet Added to the SCAS Campus

Recently another eighteenth-century building was officially added to the SCAS campus, namely nearby
Villa Lugnet. It is located within a short walking distance, just south-east of the Botanic Garden and the
Collegium’s main building Linneanum, and provides additional space, such as offices and a meeting
room for SCAS Fellows and visiting research groups.

Villa Lugnet dates back to 1734 and was initially the home of the gardener responsible for the pleasure
garden and kitchen garden belonging to Uppsala Castle. In 1787, the pleasure garden was donated to
the Academy by King Gustavus III and the lease of the kitchen garden was eventually transferred to
the Academy gardener. Villa Lugnet remained a gardener's residence until around the mid-nineteenth
century, providing accommodation for the Academy Gardener in the decades around 1800, and from
1813 for the gardener at the service of the Governor of Uppsala County. Facing the threat of teardown
in the early 1900s, the villa was instead turned into the home of the head of the local prison ward in
1917. In the 1940s, the villa went through a thorough restoration, and after that it was used for
multiple purposes serving both as a private residence and as study centre. On behalf of SCAS, the villa
was carefully restored again in 2021-22, enabling the Collegium to extend its activities even further.

As of the start of the autumn semester 2022, the first group of Fellows has just settled into the new
offices.