Alfred Westholm

Daniel Alfred Westholm (22 June 1904 Falun - 7 June 1996 Ramsberg, Örebro County) was a Swedish archaeologist. Between September 1927 and March 1931, he led the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, along with Einar Gjerstad, Erik Sjöqvist and with architect John Lindros.

Alfred Westholm

Life

Daniel Alfred Westholm was the son of Alfred Emanuel Westholm, Associate Professor in Modern Languages in Falun, and Anna Hilma Augusta Bäckström. He was married to Ingegärd Beskow, daughter of Finance Minister Jacob Beskow and Esther Olesen, from 1940. They had the children Anna, Olle, Per, Helena and Erik. His brother was the city architect, Sten Westholm, and his eldest brother, law student Gustaf Westholm (1894-1918), volunteered in the Finnish Civil War.[1]

Alfred Westholm studied Nordic history and art history at Stockholm University, and classical history and ancient history at Uppsala University from 1924 to 1925. He participated in the Swedish excavations in Asine in 1926, and Dendra in 1927, where he was responsible for photo documentation and drawing work. He improved the method of cross section and section drawings. When the Greek employees had difficulty pronouncing Alfred, he got the nickname "Alfiros", after the locomotive "Alfios", which traveled the route between the cities of Argos and Nauplion. He willingly accepted the nickname, which came to follow him life.

Alfred Westholm and Knut Richard Thyberg in Cypern

Westholm was recruited by Einar Gjerstad to the Swedish Cyprus Expedition. He was given the responsibility to lead one of the two excavation teams. Westholm carried out the excavations in the following places: Soli, Milia, Vouni, Petra tou Limniti, Ajios Jakovos (Iron Age site), Kition, Kythrea, Amathus and Mersinaki. During his stay in Cyprus, Westholm wrote many letters home to his parents. These have been published in book form, and give a unique insight into the expedition's work and daily life. After the expedition's excavations were formally completed, Westholm, with the help of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf's influence, was able to continue and dug out the Soli Cholades site, where six different temples were dug out. These would be the subject of the dissertation The Temples of Soli (1936), at Stockholm University. After returning home, Westholm served as head of the home-owned Cyprus collections in Stockholm until 1944. A major part of the work was the processing of the expedition's results for the publication The Swedish Cyprus Expedition.

Westholm was honored with the Order of Vasa in 1937. The same year, he represented Sweden at an international congress on excavation and memorial legislation, organized by the League of Nations in Cairo. During the 1930s he worked as editor of the publication of the former diggings in Asine. In 1940, Westholm arranged the exhibition "Before Fidias" at the Historical Museum in Stockholm. Most of the exhibits were collected from the Cyprus collections. He was also responsible for the work of the exhibition "10,000 years in Sweden" in the same museum in 1943. During World War II, Westholm was a secretary for a committee aimed at collecting money in support of the people of occupied Greece. Half a million kronor was collected. From 1944 to 1947, Westholm served in the first laboratory at Gothenburg Art Museum. He then served as head of the same institution until retirement in 1969.

In 1956, he traveled on behalf of UNESCO to Peru to plan a new art museum in the capital Lima. In 1958, he took over responsibility for the unfinished Swedish excavations in Labranda, Turkey. Westholm became professor in 1966. From 1969 to 1973, he served as director of the Swedish Institute of Istanbul.

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References
  1. Svenska släktkalendern 1976. Stockholm 1976

Bibliography
  • E. Gjerstad et al. (1934), The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. I, Stockholm.
  • E. Gjerstad et al. (1935), The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. II, Stockholm.
  • A. Westholm (1936), The Temples of Soli. Studies on Cypriote Art during Hellenistic and Roman Periods, Stockholm.
  • E. Gjerstad et al. (1937), The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. III, Stockholm.
  • O. Vessberg, A. Westholm (1956), The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavation in Cyprus 1927-1931. Vol. IV:3, Stockholm.
  • Westholm; Niki Eriksson (ed) "The fantastic years on Cyprus": illustrated extracts from Alfred Westholm's letters to his parents, 1927-, Paul Åströms, 2007
  • Westholm (1996), De fantastiska åren på Cypern. Brev till föräldrarna 1927-1931, Paul Åström, Sävedalen.

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