‘This hidden corner of Europe’: evaluating medieval architecture in nineteenth-century Finland

Abstract

In the first survey of the history of Finnish art (1891), art historian Eliel Aspelin tried to prove that, despite its marginal position, Finland was part of the ‘civilised’ Western Europe. He presented a picture of a periphery with substantial, yet unfulfilled, artistic potential. This article explores the ways in which Aspelin negotiated the marginality of Finland through the history of art in general and medieval architecture in particular. The nineteenth-century intellectual and political debates that surrounded medieval buildings, constructed at a time when Finland was part of the Swedish Kingdom, played a problematic role in narrating Finnish history and defining its geopolitical position as an autonomous grand duchy in the Russian Empire. By examining how Aspelin integrated medieval architecture into his general survey, this article unravels how this heritage was used as a political tool in constructing a modern nation. While medieval architecture linked Finland to ‘western civilisation’, this heritage also marked its fundamental difference from any artistic centre. The article argues that through this self-marginalisation Aspelin created a positive and progressive image of a European periphery with unique innate creativity.