Frederik Macody Lund

Julius Frederik Macody Lund (born November 18 1863 in Stavanger, died December 16 1943 in Farsund) was a controversial Norwegian historian, most known and remembered for his engagement in the restoration of the Nidaros Cathedral.

When arcitect Christian Christie presented his ideas for a restoration of the west section and the west front, an alternative idea was published by Macody Lund, introducing the screenfront and the rose window, both of these were ideas that were included in Olaf Nordhagen's 1907 plan for the cathedral's restoration.

In 1915 Macody Lund published his theory that the Nidaros Cathedral was constructed on the basis of the ideas of the golden ratio. He found support for this idea in the Norwegian parliament, the Stortinget, and got funding from the parliament in order to develop an alternative proposal for the restoration of the west section and the west front, in competition with Nordhagen's work. This "system controversies" led to great delays in the work at the cathedral, as no work could be done before this dispute was settled. Macody Lund published his views in "Ad Quadratum" (1919). The dispute was settled in 1922, when an international experts commission rejected Macody Lund's theories, and Stortinget in 1923 decided to continue the cathedral's restoration based on Nordhagen's plan. The commision's verdict was, however, without a full argumentation. Macody Lund thus saw an opportunity to continue his argument, which he published in "Ad Quadratum II: Dom med præmisser over den internasjonale domskommissions dom uten præmisser" (1928) (translation: "A verdict with premises on the international experts commision's verdict without premises").

He was given a "Lifetime government grant" in 1929.

References

* Seland, J.: "Macody Lund. Et hjerte i en kruttønne.", 1971 ("in norwegian").