Elias Fries

1794–1878.

Botanist, mycologist.

Elias Fries came from Femsjö in Småland and was the son of the Parson Thore Fries and Sara Elisabeth Wernelin. He became one of leading figures of mycology, who produced writings that still play a scientific role.

Originally, Fries studied at Lund University and he became associate professor of botany at the age of 20.

He later moved to Uppsala University and was in 1851 Professor of practical economics and botany. He was also the prefect of the Botanical Garden and the museum there.

Fries was especially focused on the study of fungi, but his research touched on all the fields of botany. His most influential work was Systema Mycologicum, which was Fries's systematic work regarding fungi. Other mycological works were Elenchusfungorum and Hymenomycetes Europaei.

Fries propagated to use fungi as food, by the work of plates Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms. The interest in mycology was transferred to several of the children. For example, the son and daughter, Elias Petrus and Susanna (Sanna) Christina, draw several plates with mushrooms which several are preserved in Uppsala.

Fries also published the popular scientific papers Botanical Flyers (1-3, 1843 – 1864).

In addition to rector of the university, Elias Fries was a member of the Swedish Academy.

Title sheet from Elias Fries "Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms", Norstedt & Sons, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Spread by Elias Fries "Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms", Norstedt & Sons, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Burial site: 0103-0185

Image description: Elias Fries, Uppsala 1860's. Photo: UUB. [The image is cropped]
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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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Olof Thunman

1879–1944.

Artist, author.

Olof Thunman was born in the Imperfectum student house on Västra Ågatan, where the Catholic parish of St Lars now has premises.

He studied between 1902–1906 at the Academy of Arts and its etching school. Thunman then devoted himself to landscape painting, which, like his lyric poetry, is based on the cultural landscape of Uppland. Thunman painted in an impressionist style, often with dusky tones, but later moved to topographically accurate drawings and ink wash paintings.

He moved in 1928 to a house at Noor's Castle in Knivsta and lived there for life. Often, Thunman went out to the landscape, on foot or by bike, with pen and paper in his hand. He was often dressed in grey wadmal suit with leg lindens, and is as such depicted in a sculpture outside the Särsta Inn in Knivsta.

The lyrics are collected in books such as Pan Spelar (1919), Olandssånger (1927) and Fornbygd och färdvägar (1929). The most famous poem is "Vi gå över dew-spotted mountains" to a tune of uncertain origin, possibly from a Hälsingian melody.

In October 1944, Olof Thunman died and after the funeral in Uppsala Cathedral, the funeral procession went through Odinslund past Carolina, via Övre Slottsgatan in through Åsgrändsgrinden. The procession was lined with a crowd of people who, with torches, honored the deceased.

At the grave, members of the choir OD sang "Over the forest, over the lake" with lyrics and music by the composer A.F. Lindblad.

The following stanza is from the poem "Winter Night", Olandssånger, 1927.

There is snow over the bird song
And the waterfall sleeps at the Island Bridge.
In the night a prisoner of winter listens
In vain after the tone of spring.

 

Burial site: 0115-0801

Image description: Olof Thunman ca 1940. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / UUB. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Peter Thunberg

1743–1828.

Botanist, physician.

In 1770, Carl Peter Thunberg, after studying with Carl Linnaeus, went on a nine-year journey abroad that began in the Netherlands. There Thunberg met the most prominent botanist of the time.

Thunberg then pursued medical studies in Paris before being the ship's doctor on a ship going from the Netherlands to Cape Town, to stay for three years to explore the area's nature. The studies were documented in Flora capensis (1-3, 1807 – 1813). Thunberg was the first to describe the flora in South Africa and has therefore been called the father of South African flora.

In 1775 Thunberg continued to Japan, where he collected material for his Flora japonica (1784). The work was epoch-making for the knowledge of Japan's plant world and Thunberg received the honorary name of Japan's Linnaeus.

Poster of Japanese Maple retrieved from Icones plantarum Japonicarum [Poster 5 part V, 1805]. Photo: Uppsala University Library.

Illustration (frontispiece) from Voyages de C. P. Thunberg au Japon [...], tome I, Paris, An. IV [1796]. Photo: Uppsala University Library.

In 1779 Thunberg returned to Uppsala and succeeded in 1784 Carl Linnaeus the younger as professor of medicine and botany.

Thunberg also published the Journey in Europe, Africa, Asia, established the years 1770–1779 (1-4, 1788 – 1793). The collections from the trips were deposited at the University library.

Carl Peter Thunberg's estate Tunaberg, north of the Svartbäcken creek in Uppsala, where he lived the rest of his long life, was known for his prestigious horticulture well into the 1940s.

 

Burial site: 0101-0103

Image description : Carl Peter Thunberg, 1801. Engraver Anton Ulrik Berndes. Photo: UUB. [ The image is cropped ]
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Edvard Raab

1841–1901.

Chief constable, Baron, district court judge.

Edward Raab became chief of police in Uppsala in 1879 and died on his post.

However, his notoriety, which reached far beyond the borders of Uppsala, is not so much based on police deeds but more on Raab's linguistic somersaults and statements which wasn't thaught through. Albert Engström immortalized Raab through many stories and drawings in the magazine Strix.

Much of what police chief Raab is said to be the author of is obviously enhanced by others. However, there are ordinances and decrees from his pen, which demonstrate originality.

For example, it was laid down in an order regarding the street maintenance:

"When new snow has fallen, the old snow must first desposed of".

A crime scene investigation concluded: "Judging by the size of the hole in the plane, the number of burglars seemed to have been just one." In instructions for handling anonymous letters, it was stipulated: "Anonymous letters shall be returned to the sender".

Edward Raab, described as honest, good and beneficial, often went dressed in his police master's uniform. Rabb was convivial, paternal and popular was among students, although they occasionally spent nights in custody.

In the foreground to right police chief Raab, behind him Constable Sandgren, at Uppsala Cathedral in connection of the 300 anniversary of Uppsala meeting, 1893. Photographer: Heinrich Osti / Uppsala University Library.

Police the years XII: 5. At Linneanum in the Botanical Garden in Uppsala about 1880-approx. 1901, police chief Raab. Several of the police officers ' names are recorded on the back of the mounting sheet. Photographer: Alfred Dahlgren/UUB.

Burial site: 0116-0836

Image description: Edvard Raab, Uppsala 1882. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUB. [The image is cropped]
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Erik Ofvandahl

1848–1949.

Pastry chef, poet.

Erik Ofvandahl became early an orphan and came as a poor caring child to the village of Ovandal in Stora Tuna. As an adult, Ofvandahl took his name from that place.

Ofvandahl came to Uppsala as a sugar beetle journeyman and in 1885 started his own confectionery at Östra Ågatan 31. Two years later the confectionery was located at Sysslomansgatan 5, where it still is. In 1901 he changed his surname and the legendary Ofvandahl's soon became a meeting place for students and literary gatherings.

During the 1880s, Ofvandahl often participated in the radical fraternity Verdandis gatherings, which were often held at the pastry shop. At these meetings, Ofvandahl was known for his witty replies and debate speeches on verse.

He was a reputable pastry chef, but the fame stems mainly from the literary creation in the Pekorala genre. Part of the production was funded by Ofvandahl himself.

Ulf Peder Olrog praised his bakery art with the following lines: "At Ofvandahls Patisserie among cakes, you and I, my friend, have both gotten our chins".

Although the Ofvandahl was sometimes subjected to mockery by the students, in hist time, the judgement of him was undivided positive. Erik Ofvandahl is described as a person who dared to live out his individuality and that he was a pleasing companion who was happy to play on his violin. The author Birger Sjöberg writes:

 

"In the clear hall of heaven
where good thoughts bloom
me and pastry chef Ofvandahl
may rest among the pious'.

 

Burial site: 0130-1293

Image description: Erik Ofvandahl, unknown year. Photo: Swedish Biographical dictionary / National Archives. [The image is cropped]
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Bruno Liljefors

1860–1939.

Artist.

Bruno Liljefors, son of Anders and Margareta Liljefors, a gunpowder merchant, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1879 to 1882 and then went to work for the animal painter C. F. Deiker in Düsseldorf and from there to Grez-sur-Loing, where he stayed with Carl Larsson and others in the Swedish artists' colony.

Bruno Liljefors became one of Sweden's foremost painters for his nature and animal motifs and renowned internationally. Like Carl Larsson, Liljefors was inspired by Japanese art and created daylight painting according to the principles of naturalism. With the painting "Capercaille Courtship" and "Night Piece", as well as another pair of works, he captured the second class medal at the World Exhibition in Paris 1889.

The prelude to Liljefors archipelago paintings is the morning atmosphere of the sea from 1896 followed by a series of works with sea and bird motifs generally painted in large format: "Eagle-owl by the Sea", "Dormant great black-backed gull", "Chasing diver", "Resting wild geese" and "Eurasian curlews" 1899.

Among Liljefors publications, the memoir volume of The Wilds Kingdom (1934) can be mentioned. Collections of art are available at the National Museum, Gothenburg Art Museum, Thiel Gallery and Uppsala University. Bruno Liljefors' studio in Österbybruk is preserved as a museum.

 

Burial site: 0206-1641

Image description: Bruno Liljefors, unknown year. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Hans Järta

1774–1847.

Official, politician, author.

Hans Järta (originally Baron Hans Hierta) became a student in Uppsala at the age of 13, an official in the Cabinet of foreign correspondence as an 18-year-old and secretary at the Justice department four years later.

As eighteen, Järta socialized with the men in the conspiracy against king Gustavus III. Järta was present in 1792 when the shot against Gustavus III was fired. Afterward, Järta gave partial misleading information about the shooting but whether or not he was involved in the murder plan itself, there is only circumstantial evidence. He was never accused of involvement in the assassination.

Järta recalled both nobility and his member of parliament at the Riksdag in 1800 in protest against king Gustav IV Adolf and the monarchical autocracy and took the name Järta (the family name was Hierta).

Järta was one of the men behind the coup d'état of 1809 and belonged, after the king's abdication, on of the leaders at the Riksdag the same year. He was secretary of the Constitutional Committee in the drafting of 1809 years of government.

Järta was also governor of Kopparbergs County 1812 – 1822, member of the Swedish Academy 1819 and moved to Uppsala 1825 where he served as a writer. In Uppsala, Järta held a literary salon, which competed with the Malla Silfverstolpes salon.

Later, Järta became head of the Swedish National Archives from 1837–1844.

The high gravestone that adorns the burial ground refers to his son with the same name, which as a young student died in 1825.

 

Burial site: 0112-0588

Image description: Hans Järta. Photo: From Emil Hildebrand,  Sveriges historia intill tjugonde seklet, vol 9 (1910) / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Hård

1768–1840.

Major-general.

Carl Hård was born at Jällsta Gård in Viikki Parish and was at 20 years of age lieutenant at Upplands Regement. He participated in the Finnish War in 1788–1790 and distinguished himself in the first Battle of Swedish strait 1789. The following year, Hård participated in the Battle of Fredrikshamn, a battle where King Gustavus III took command.

As major Hård participated in the Siege of Stralsund 1807, of Lier's sconce 1808 in Norway and in the defense of Sävar and Ratan 1809. At the Battle of Leipzig 1813 he acted as Lieutenant Colonel and was then appointed colonel of the Army. He then participated in the march to Brussels and in the campaign to Norway.

Carl Hård became Major-general in 1822 and resignated in 1835. In addition to his military career, he was an a rt collector. In his last years in life he lived in Uppsala near Fyrisån (later Ofvandalska Gården). In Uppsala he spent time in the academic circles around Geijer and Atterbom.

Hård's art collection, consisting of about a hundred oil paintings, was later donated to Uppsala University. The donation laid the foundations for Uppsala University's art museum.

 

Burial site: 0103-0177

Image description: Portrait of Carl Hård painted by J.G. Sandberg. Photo: National Archives / Swedish Biographical Dictionary. [The image is cropped]
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