Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden

Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden dug tombs at Stylli in the autumn of 1930, between sessions of the "high court" that decided how the Swedish Cyprus Expedition's finds would be shared. He later became King Gustaf VI Adolf; Einar Gjerstad, writing in 1980, calls him the "late King"¹.

Patron of the expedition

Gjerstad wrote that the prince "was from the outset the active patron and supporter of the expedition"¹. Kristian Göransson says his support made the start in 1927 possible, and that Gjerstad then raised the money from many private donors². The Crown Prince headed the committee that supported the expedition, and his name stands first in the list of subscribers to the first volume of the final publication, in 1934³.

On 21 August 1928 Gjerstad wrote to the prince that he mistrusted Ronald Storrs, the Governor of Cyprus, and Rupert Gunnis. The letter is in the Royal Archive in Stockholm⁴.

Stylli, 1930

In autumn 1930 the prince travelled to Cyprus. Gjerstad gives three reasons: to inspect the work, to take part in the last excavations, and to attend the division of the finds. He landed at Limassol and stayed in a house in Stylli village¹. There he dug with Erik Sjöqvist, while his aide-de-camp, Major Ekeroth, worked in the adjoining tomb. Gjerstad describes him shovelling out collapsed tombs and hunting fossils for the Swedish geological collections¹. Seventeen dromos tombs were excavated at Stylli in all, ranging from Cypro-Geometric IIIA to Cypro-Archaic IIA². Gjerstad adds that the prince visited Famagusta, Salamis, Karpas, Bellapais and St Hilarion¹.

The "high court"

The expedition's finds numbered nearly 18,000 objects. A "lower court" of Menelaos Markides, Gunnis and Gjerstad drew up a proposal, and the points on which they disagreed went to a "high court" of the Crown Prince and Storrs. The talks lasted three weeks. The final proposal was ready on 26 October 1930 and the Museum Committee ratified it the next day^1,2. Sweden received about two-thirds of the finds. Everything from the prince's own digging at Stylli was allotted to Sweden, which Gjerstad calls a tribute to his unselfish interest¹.

Gjerstad also credits the prince's personal interest with making it possible to uncover the whole temple area at Cholades¹.