, siglum = , pronounce = , citizenship = Grand Duchy of Finland , nationality = , fields = History , workplaces = , patrons = , education = , alma_mater = University of Helsinki , thesis_title = , thesis_url = , thesis_year = , doctoral_advisor = , academic_advisors = , doctoral_students = , notable_students = , known_for = , influences = , influenced = , awards = , author_abbrev_bot = , author_abbrev_zoo = , spouse = , partner = , children = 5 , parents = , father = Carl Henrik Heikel , mother = Emma Fredrika Heikel , relatives =

Anna Heikel Anna Charlotta Heikel (2 February 1838 – 3 April 1907) was a Finland-Swedish teacher and director of the School for the Deaf in Jakobstad, Finland, from 1878 to 1898. She was a temperance activist as well as a pioneer of the Baptist movement i ...

Felix Heikel Karl Felix Heikel (3 June 1844 – 20 May 1921) was a Finland-Swedish banker and politician. He was the son of priest and educator Henrik Heikel, brother of educators and Finnish Baptist pioneers Viktor and Anna Heikel, father of insurance direc ...

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 and ...

Viktor Heikel Frans Viktor Heikel (23 August 1842 – 27 July 1927) was a Finland-Swedish gymnastics teacher, known as "the father of Finnish school gymnastics". Life Heikel was born in Turku to educator and priest Henrik Heikel and Wilhelmina Johanna Scha ...

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

Felix Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

, and

. He is one of the founders of ethnology in Finland.

Biography

Heikel was born on April 28, 1851, in

Brändö Brändö is an island 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 population of () and covers a ...

, Åland, Finland, to vicar Carl Henrik and Emma Fredrika Heikel née Wallin. He received his master's degree in 1880 from the Imperial Alexander University (today the University of Helsinki). From 1889 to 1892, Heikel was an associate professor of Finnish ethnography in Helsinki; in 1893 he became curator of the Archaeological Commission and in 1917 of the Ethnographic Museum of

Seurasaari Seurasaari ( sv, Fölisön) 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 de ...

, 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 Finn, 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 and Udmurt people, in Russia. He also made trips to Mongolia, Siberia, and

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

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

Andronovo culture The Andronovo culture (russian: Андроновская культура, translit=Andronovskaya kul'tura) is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1450 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo ...

near

Yalutorovsk Yalutorovsk (russian: Ялу́торовск) 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 ...

. 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 Johannes Reinhold Aspelin (August 1, 1848 – May 29, 1915) was a Finnish archaeologist and professor who was the first state archaeologist of Finland, as well as the first professor of archaeology in Finland. He was a leading figure in the establi ...

. He founded the

Open-Air Museum 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. Ba ...

' open-air museum Skansen 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 Finnish ethnographers Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki People from the Grand Duchy of Finland {{Ethnographer-stub