deemed necessary for the well-rounded education of a young nobleman: riding, fencing, dance, drawing and modern languages such as French and Italian. The initiative came from Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, who saw the value in a well-educated class of civil servants and the danger to his own class if its members would fall behind in academic education compared to those students who came from the lower estates. An "exercise yard," built for the riding and fencing exercises, was demolished in the late 19th century to give place to the new University Hall. Modern languages were made part of the regular academic curriculum in the 19th century. The surviving "exercises" include: Fencing – Arranged in collaboration with Upsala Fäktning, a private fencing club. Gymnastics and sports – Located at the Art Nouveau University Gymnastics Hall, colloquially known as Svettis (from the Swedish word for sweat) Riding – Arranged by the equestrian department of the University, which has its own stables. Leaders of the activities are the Academy Stable Master and the Inspector Equitandi Music – Leader of the musical activities is the director musices, who is the conductor of the Royal Academic Orchestra; the current Director Musices is Professor Stefan Karpe Drawing – The university appoints an established artist as Drawing Master; free weekly croquis and other lessons are offered in the southern tower of Uppsala Castle Other sports Besides the , other sports have had a presence in Uppsala student life. The Upsala Simsällskap, "Uppsala Swimming Society," which is the oldest swimming club in the world, was founded in 1796 by the mathematician Jöns Svanberg. It had no formal connection to the university, but all its earliest members came from academic life. Svanberg even arranged a mock graduation ceremony, a simpromotion, in a parody of the university ceremonies, where those who had graduated from its swimming training were awarded "degrees" of master (magister) and bachelor (kandidat). These degrees stuck, and Swedish swimming schools still use these degrees for different levels of swimming skills. An attempt was made in the 1870s to introduce academic rowing after the Oxbridge model. The Stockholms Nation acquired a rowing boat in 1877, soon followed by the Göteborgs nation, and for a number of years rowing competitions were held between teams from the two nations. Although rowing never got the strong position it has at the English universities, an annual Uppsala-Lund regatta has been arranged since 1992,