In the summer of 1799, university lecturer Edward Daniel Clarke and student John Marten Cripps set out on a journey from Cambridge to Athens. But the Napoleonic Wars meant that the journey took an unexpected route through Scandinavia, all the way to Karesuando.
The trip was basically a classic Grand Tour – that is, an educational journey. These journeys were often undertaken by young, preferably noble, students together with a tutor as a reward for successful studies. However, the war situation on the continent made the traditional route impossible for Clarke and Cripps, forcing them to seek alternative routes through Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The content and character of the journey were largely shaped by Edward Daniel Clarke himself. He was a trained mineralogist but also a scientist with a broad curiosity about nature, people and culture. As a diligent and detail-oriented observer, he documented the journey in a comprehensive four-volume work, where the first volume is devoted to descriptions from Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Lecturer: Robert Pohjanen, antiquarian, Norrbotten Museum.
Free entrance. We offer coffee!
Drop-in from 13.30 p.m.
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Archives center Norrbotten,
Höstvägen 7, Luleå
Free