TEXTUAL TRACES OF LOST OBJECTS. THE COLLECTION OF THE ACADEMY OF TURKU AS THE FIRSTARCHAEOLOGICAL

When a devastating fire burnt the city of Turku in 1827, it also destroyed most of the collections kept in the Academy of Turku. The Academy, founded in 1640, was the first university in Finland and the predecessor of the modern-day University of Helsinki. Beginning with art and numismatic collection, the collections expanded through donations during the late 18th - early 19th century to include archaeological, historical and ethnographic objects and natural specimens. After the fire, the university was moved to Helsinki and the collection was started over, later becoming one of the foundations for the collections of the National Museum of Finland. The story of the lost collection of the Academy is closely intertwined with the early history of archaeology in Finland, including also intriguing aspects of natural disaster and political entanglement. The only material remains of the original Academy collections having survived the fire and still existing today are the coins and medals kept in the National Museum, some of them partly melted and soot-covered. They are mostly without context and uncatalogued. What then can be said about archaeological objects that maybe once were included in the collection? This paper examines the possibilities of reconstructing a disappeared collection through textual sources, the traces of vanished, invisible objects existing in texts like puzzle pieces.


Author(s): Kunnas, Liisa (University of Helsinki)