Axel Heikel

Axel Olai Heikel (April 28, 1851 – September 6, 1924) was a Finnish ethnographer and archaeologist, and cousin of Viktor, Felix, Anna, and Ivar Heikel. He is one of the founders of ethnology in Finland.

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, which was his creation. He was awarded the honorary title of professor in 1920.

Heikel studied Estonian, Volga Finnic, and Finnish architecture. He became the museum's curator in 1917.

Heikel died on September 6, 1924, in Helsinki, Finland, after a long illness.

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)