Skulls taken to Sweden 150 years ago re-buried in Pälkäne

The human skulls taken from Pälkäne to Sweden in the 1870s were returned to Finland and re-buried in the Pälkäne churchyard on Sunday afternoon, Pälkäne municipality said.

A total of 82 skulls were taken from different Finnish cemeteries more than 150 years ago were returned by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet to Finland.

Most of the skulls were taken from Pälkäne while the rest were taken from Rautalampi, Keitele and Pielavesi in North Savo, and Eno in North Karelia.

About 45 skulls reburied in ruined St Michael’s Church at Pälkäne at about 3:00 p.m. through holding a burial ceremony by the authorities and local people.

Earlier, Pälkäne municipality in a post on its social media platforms Facebook invited the people to join the burial ceremony.

The rest of the skulls will be reburied in the graveyards near the original municipalities.

In Sweden, the skulls had been in the possession of the Karolinska Institutet, the leading medical university in Sweden.

The Swedish government approved the plan to repatriate the skulls in April.

Earlier, Karolinska Institute issued an apology in 2019 for removal of the skulls from Finland.