The proposal to establish an Institute for Advanced Studies at Lund University was submitted by Professor Sture Forsén in 2007 and was approved the same year by the University’s council for research development. It was established by Vice-Chancellor Göran Bexell in December 2008. The Institute was named after Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694), one of the University’s first professors.  

In the spring of 2008, the Institute moved into its present location. Classicum was closed after having housed the Museum of Classical Antiquities and the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History. The Institute was given the opportunity to take over the building, dating from 1886, which was originally constructed to house the Department of Physics, and which until 1951 was called “Fysicum”. A generous grant from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation enabled a thorough renovation of the building and in May 2009, the Pufendorf Institute was inaugurated at the corner of Sölvegatan and Biskopsgatan.

The Pufendorf IAS is situated at the very centre of Lund University – in the heart of Lund. The building, which was built in 1886, was beautifully renovated in 2008 and layers of academic history were carefully preserved and incorporated into the modern working environment it is today. It is beautiful and spacious – a stimulating and inspiring place to be.