Axel Olai Heikel (April 28, 1851 – September 6, 1924) was a Finnish ethnographer and archaeologist, and cousin of Viktor, Felix,

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th c ...

, and

Ivar Heikel Ivar August Heikel (16 January 1861 – 8 October 1952) was a Finnish philologist and intellectual historian. He was the nephew of priest and educator Henrik Heikel. He was also the cousin of gymnastics teacher Viktor, educator Anna, banker an ...

. He is one of the founders of

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

in Finland.

Biography

Heikel was born on April 28, 1851, in

Brändö Brändö is an island Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Åland, Finland. Characteristics of Brändö are the numerous assembly of islands and islets, most important of which are linked by bridges and causeways. The municipality has a pop ...

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, Finland, to

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Carl Henrik and Emma Fredrika Heikel née Wallin. He received his master's degree in 1880 from the

Imperial Alexander University The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Tsar Al ...

(today the University of Helsinki). From 1889 to 1892, Heikel was an associate professor of Finnish ethnography in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

; in 1893 he became curator of the Archaeological Commission and in 1917 of the Ethnographic Museum of

Seurasaari Seurasaari () is an island and a district in Helsinki, Finland, known mostly as the location of the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, which consists of old, mainly wooden buildings transplanted from elsewhere in Finland and placed in the dense forest l ...

, which was his creation. He was awarded the honorary title of professor () in 1920. Heikel studied

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

, Volga Finnic, and Finnish architecture. Between 1883 and 1886 and 1889 and 1893 he undertook extensive ethnographic and archaeological research trips to Finno-Ugric tribes, including the Mari,

Mordvin Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Names While Robert G. Latham had identified ''Mordva'' ...

and Udmurt people, in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He also made trips to

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, and

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

. In 1893, Heikel became the first to discover traces of the

Andronovo culture The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1150 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo Problem: Studies of Cultural Genesis in the Eurasian Bronze Age" in Open Archaeology 202 ...

near

Yalutorovsk Yalutorovsk () is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tobol River southeast of Tyumen. Population: History It was founded in 1659 as the settlement of Yalutorovsky () and was granted town status in 1782. Administrative and munici ...

. His doctoral thesis from these trips received a mixed reaction in Finland but was widely read in Germany and Russia. Heikel was inspired by Finnish archaeologist J. R. Aspelin. He founded the

Open-Air Museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

in Helsinki, Finland, which he "considered his second home", after being inspired by Swedish folklorist

Arthur Hazelius Artur Immanuel Hazelius (30 November 1833 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish teacher, scholar, folklorist and museum director. He was the founder of both the Nordic Museum (''Nordiska museet'') and the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm. Back ...

' open-air museum

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

in Stockholm. His goal was to create a "miniature Finland" featuring buildings moved there representing different parts of the country. He became the museum's curator in 1917. Heikel died on September 6, 1924, in Helsinki, Finland, after a long illness. He was buried at the on the museum grounds. Heikel was one of the University of Helsinki Faculty of Arts' 375 Humanists on March 14, 2015.

Family

Heikel married Maria Castrén in 1890. They had five children: Aili Martta Oilokai Heikel, Elsa Arna Jyrhämä, Maija Kaarina Bärlund-Karma, Kerttu Annikki Heikel, and Siiri Kyllikki Nordlund.

Works

* (1878) * (1885) * (thesis, 1887) ** (1888) * (1888) * (1892) * (1894) *''/'' (1896) * (1898) * (presentation, 1899) * (1906) * (1909) *''The Fölisö Open-air Museum'' (1912) * (1912) * (1912) * (1913) * (1913) * (1914) * (1915) * (1919) * (1919) * (1922) Axel Heikel in Nizhny Novgorod Russia

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Axel Heikel on geni.comAxel Olai Heikel on worldcat.orgAxel Olai Heikel. University of Helsinki
1851 births 1924 deaths Finnish archaeologists Scholars from the Grand Duchy of Finland Ethnographers from the Russian Empire Finnish ethnographers Academic staff of the University of Helsinki People from the Grand Duchy of Finland {{Ethnographer-stub