Turku Castle
Medieval castle at the mouth of the Aura, now Finland's largest surviving castle and a history museum.
Building at Turku Castle began around 1280 on what was then an island at the mouth of the River Aura. Over three centuries it grew from a simple fortified camp into a large stone castle with a bailey, serving as the administrative centre of the Swedish realm's eastern province. Duke John and Catherine Jagellon held a Renaissance court here in the 1550s and 1560s, adding vaulted halls and decorated chambers. The castle later declined into a granary, prison and barracks.
Soviet bombing in 1941 gutted much of the main castle, and the long restoration that followed, directed by the architect Erik Bryggman, was among the largest such projects in the Nordic countries. The castle reopened as a museum run by the Turku Museum Centre and is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. Visitors move through the bailey and main castle, seeing the Renaissance halls, the castle church, dungeons and exhibitions on daily life, restoration and the people who lived here.
Highlights
- Largest surviving medieval building in Finland, begun around 1280
- Renaissance halls built for Duke John and Catherine Jagellon
- Exhibition on the post-war restoration after the 1941 bombing
- Bailey, castle church, dungeons and collection displays
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