Finally, the castle

Ok, finally I got all the pictures I took gone through and edited.

Click the link below for a slideshow:

The Turku castle slideshow

I was a bit wrong in saying that Turku was the capital of Finland until 1809. Actually, Turku was the capital in 1809-1812. Before that there was no capital city as such, because under Sweden the country did not have an autonomous position. However, Turku WAS the most important concentration of population and the largest city until 1840. Its history is counted to begin from 1229 when the bishopry was moved to the location; town formation began in the late 13th century. Thus Turku is the oldest city in Finland. The bishopry of course made the place the most important here, but it also became an important trade centre, due to its location on the western coast and the river that runs through it. 1640 saw the foundation of the first university of Finland in Turku. A great fire destroyed much of the city in the early 19th century, though some of the older buildings survived the fire.

The castle of Turku was built in 1280, at the time outside the city, in the river mouth close to where the modern port is. It was founded by the Swedish conquerors, intended as a military fortification. In the early 14th century, with the addition of living quarters, the fortrification developed into a closed off castle formed by the forecastle and the main castle. In the mid-16th century King Gustav Vasa of Sweden gave Finland as a dukedom to his son Johan, who enlarged the castle in a grand Renessaince style - approximately its modern form - and held his court there. In the first half of the 17th century, the castle functioned as the residence of the general governor of Finland. However, like many castles in Europe, it had lost is military role due to changes in European warfare and was subsequently used mainly for storage and as a prison.

Strictly speaking, the castle as it is now is not from the 13th century, because the original was badly damaged by bombings in the Second World War. It has been faithfully restored to its original form, though.