Johan Reinhold Aspelin
Humanist of the day

Johan Reinhold Aspelin

Johan Reinhold Aspelin was a pioneer of Finnish archaeology. He was the first Finnish professor in the discipline, published the first general work on Finnish prehistory and was appointed Finland’s first State Archaeologist. The greatest of his life’s works was nevertheless the creation and development of Suomen muinaismuistohallinto, an institute for the preservation of ancient Finnish relics. The foundation of the present-day National Museum of Finland was also to a large extent the result of Aspelin’s work.

Johan Reinhold Aspelin

Born August 1, 1842, Messukylä. Died May 29, 1915, Helsinki

Bachelor of Arts 1866, Master of Arts 1869, Licentiate 1876 and PhD 1877, Imperial Alexander University

State Archaeologist 1885–1915
Professor extraordinary of Scandinavian archaeology 1878–85, Imperial Alexander University
Genealogist 1878–83, the House of Nobility
Amanuensis of the Museum of History and Ethnography, Imperial Alexander University
Amanuensis 1966–78, State Archives

Board member of the Association of Finnish Tourists 1887–92 and chairman 1892–1907
Inspector (supervisor) of the Pohjalainen student nation 1884–85
Secretary of the Finnish Antiquarian Society 1871, 1874–85 and president 1885–1915

Awards and honours
Honorary PhD, University of Budapest
Honorary membership: Wanemuine Lauluselts 1870, Society of Antiquaries (London) 1885, Learned Estonian Society 1888, Imperial Archaeological Society, St Petersburg 1896
Member of the French Academy 1879

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Written by Tomas Sjöblom
Translated by Matthew Billington

Tracing the Roots of the Finno-Ugric Peoples

Johan Reinhold Aspelin enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University in 1862. Gabriel Rein, the recently retired professor of history, had fostered a Fennoman spirit of national romanticism, and in this atmosphere Aspelin dedicated himself to his historical studies. Rein had encouraged his students to study Finland’s early civilisation and prehistory, something that also stirred the imagination of young Aspelin.

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The First Professor of Archaeology

The first part of the illustrated atlas on Finno-Ugric antiquities was published in 1877. The following year, its editor, Johan Reinhold Aspelin, was named professor extraordinary of Nordic archaeology. Aspelin, Finland’s first trained scholar of antiquity, become Finland’s first professor of archaeology. During his tenure, he often championed the idea of establishing a permanent chair, which only occurred in 1921, some years after his death.

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Defender of Ancient Monuments

The Finnish Antiquarian Society was founded on October 1, 1870. The aim of the Society was to establish the preconditions for protecting historical monuments and to kick-start archaeological research, as well as to arouse public interest in ancient monuments.

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