Museum A-Ö » Historical people and places » Runeberg´s Summer Cabin

Runeberg’s Cabin recounts the childhood and adolescence of Finland’s national poet J.L. Runeberg.

Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877) was one of the Finnish frontline poets, and he is generally considered Finland’s national poet. Runeberg grew up in Jakobstad together with his five younger siblings. His father was sea captain Lorenz Ulrik Runeberg and his mother Anna Maria Malm. The family lived from time to time in modest conditions as their father was sick for years. Runeberg began his studies in Westman’s Ma’s Cabin in Jakobstad. He also spent a few years studying in Oulu living at his uncle’s before transferring to the Vaasa Trivial School.

Johan Ludvig’s father and uncle Mathias Mattsson Malm built the Runebergs’ cabin in Östanpå in 1811. It was a hunting and fishing cabin, where Janne, as he was called, spent the summers of his childhood and youth. Runeberg was interested in the great outdoors and hunted for game with snares. The young Runeberg was also interested in poetry and song, and he used to recite poetry, perform comedies and sing Bellman’s hymns together with his friends.

The cabin began to deteriorate after the death of Runeberg’s father, but Johan Ludvig’s friends repaired it and handed it over to the Runeberg family in 1851. Johan Ludvig no longer resided in the cottage, but his sister Emma Wegelius did.

After Runeberg’s death the cabin decayed again, and it had to be repaired in the 1880s. Runeberg had already during his life gained great reverence and the status of a national poet. “Pilgrimages” were made in his childhood region already in the 1880s, and the cabin is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Jakobstad. The city of Jakobstad purchased Runeberg’s cabin in 1911, and throughout the years it has become an important memorial as well as a popular excursion destination among the people of Jakobstad.