Olof Verelius

1618–1682.

Scholar, philologist.

After studies in Dorpat and Uppsala, Olof Verelius worked as a teacher in high noble families and traveled to Holland, Switzerland, Italy and France.

In 1653 Verelius was appointed to economist in Uppsala and came to belong to Olof Rudbecks research circle. On his proposal, Verelius received the newly created professorship in "The Fatherland's Antiques" 1662, as the country's first professor of archeology.

The following year, Verelius performed the first archaeological excavation in Sweden, which occurred in a mound at Broby in Börje Parish.

In the 1670s, he had built a house, which was at the current Martin Luther King's place, a building that was probably designed by his friend Olof Rudbeck.

Verelius was also a prominent linguist and published Icelandic fairy tales and a work about runes.

In the feud with Schefferus about placement of the so-called heathen temple, Verelius argued that it was in old Uppsala and not in the cathedral's place as Schefferus claimed.

Olof Verelius was the first to acquire a burial site in the cemetery for the hospital and the poor, which has since become what is called the Old Cemetery today.

The burial site was purchased by the Hospital board on 26 October 1676 and is the oldest known in the original cemetery for the poor.

The first known funeral took place on February 9, 1682, when Olof Verelius was buried in a grave chamber which still is preserved. Olof Rudbeck conducted the funeral according to Verelius wishes.

 

Burial site: 0112-0615

Image description: Olof Verelius, lithograph by Otto Henrik Wallgren. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Adolph Törneros

1794–1839.

Author, humanist, philologist.

Adolph Törneros was born in Eskilstuna on Christmas Eve 1794. At the age of 12 he began to work as a private teacher. In 1812 he began his studies at the Uppsala University and later became professor of Aesthetics in 1829 and in Latin 1832.

Törneros spent most of his life as an academic teacher in Latin and was a part of the literary circle around Geijer and Atterbom, which was his closest friends.

Törneros is one of the greatest letter writers of Swedish literature and was one of his time's greatest travel writer. Törneros longed every spring out of the countryside, where he in his many letters, described the impressions from the travels of the Swedish landscape around Lake Mälaren.

Landscapes and environments are described with extreme detail and the adventures are portrayed with a particularly lively language. In a letter to his mother, on the 29 of December 1828, the hike from the home of the Geijer family he describes, at half past seven on Christmas Eve 1828:

 

"the Snow cracked under my boots – the twenty-degree cold bit like a shark after my nose tip, ears and fingers – the star filled sky stared with grim eyes down over it as well as to the Earth, dressed in white for the weekend – Orion, just rised out of the southeast, sparkling one seemed to hear it – the moon was still and behind the clouds, but nontheless,  you saw its rays.

Adolph Törneros was described as lanky, with a slight bird profile. His friend Atterbom found in Törneros' quick movement him to unmistakable resemble a bird.

His last Christmas Törneros spent with the Atterbom family. Sheubsequently, Törneros fell ill and died in his home three weeks later in what was described as a form of typhoid. Geijer said:

 

"He had too little ballast, therefore he flew away from us".

 

Burial site: 0112-0557

Image description: Portrait of Adolph Törneros. Unknown master, oil painting from the 1830's. Photo: UUB. [The image is cropped]
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