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Turku, with the Swedish name Åbo, is one of Finland’s historically important cities. Turku is Finland’s oldest city, and it is from this area that the country’s name originates. In the Middle Ages, Turku was the capital of the eastern half of what was then Sweden, and the city was the seat of a bishop and the place where Finland’s first university was founded in 1640. When Finland became part of Russia in 1809, Turku briefly became the capital.
In 1812, Russia made Helsinki its new capital because Turku was too Swedish and too close to Stockholm. However, Turku was still the largest city in Finland for several decades. In the meantime, large parts of Turku burned down in 1827, and then Carl Ludvig Engel laid out a new town plan, which he did in several places in the country. You can still walk today in the right-angled street network that was established back then.
There are many sights to see in Turku, and you can start at the city’s market square. Most of the buildings around the square are newer constructions, but you can also see Turku’s Orthodox Church, which was built 1839-1845 at the behest of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I. You can also see Turku Swedish Theatre, and not far from here is the atmospheric market hall from 1896.
You must of course also see Turku Cathedral, which was consecrated in the year 1300. The church is one of the most important historical buildings in Finland, and it is beautifully located next to, among other things, academy and university buildings in 19th-century neoclassicism. You can also visit Turku Castle, which was established by Sweden in the 1280s, and there are several interesting museums in the city, such as two art museums.
Turku Castle is located at the mouth of the Aura Å and thus at the entrance to what is central Turku/Åbo. The castle was founded in the original version in the 1280s, and it was used by the king’s retainers and soldiers. The first castle was quickly expanded, and already at the beginning of the 14th century the complex consisted of both a fore castle and a main castle.
The castle largely got its current appearance in the years 1556-1563, when the later King Johan III resided at Turku Castle as the Swedish Duke of Finland. On that occasion, the duke had the castle expanded in the Renaissance of the time. Over the centuries thereafter, the castle was fitted out for many changing purposes, such as the seat of the governor, courthouse and prison.
Today, Turku Castle is open as a museum, where you can both experience the exciting castle and castle architecture and get an insight into, among other things, life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In the main castle, you can visit the castle’s oldest rooms, see the castle church and visit various exhibitions. In the forecourt is the main historical exhibition about the castle’s history from the 13th century to the present day.
Turku Cathedral is the main church and the archbishop’s seat of the Diocese of Turku/Åbo for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland. The church was built at the end of the 13th century, and it was consecrated in the year 1300 as a replacement for the then former bishop’s seat in Korois, which is located a short distance from Turku/Åbo to the northeast.
The cathedral has been continuously rebuilt and expanded throughout history, and after the great fire that ravaged the city in 1827, the church had to go through extensive repairs. On that occasion, among other things, a new tower spire had to be erected, which was designed by the architect Carl Ludvig Engel.
The dimensions of the church are a length of 89 meters, a width of 40 meters and a height of 95 meters to the top of the tower. It is beautifully built on the banks of the Aura Å, which runs through the city center from east to west. The interior of the church is worth seeing, and here you can see several works and graves such as Torsten Stålhandskes. Stålhandske was a Swedish general who was born in Porvoo/Borgå in 1593 and who died in Haderslev in 1644.
Åbo Akademi is a Swedish-language university in the Finnish city of Turku/Åbo. The academy was founded in 1917 and opened the following year. It has several faculties and there are over 5,000 enrolled students. With Åbo Akademi, the city again became a university city, which it had been until 1827, when a fire destroyed large parts of Åbo. After the fire, the Royal Academy was moved from here to Helsinki.
The academy’s neoclassical main building is located on Domkyrkotorget, which is next to the city’s cathedral. Here you can also see the larger former academy building, which was built from 1802 and opened in 1817. The building was destroyed by fire in 1827, but rebuilt in the 1830s by Carl Ludvig Engel as, among other things, a courthouse. The building has continued that function, but the ceremony hall is used by Åbo Akademi.
You can also see other interesting buildings on the Åbo Akademi campus, some of which were built with Carl Ludvig Engel’s plans from the 1830s reconstruction. This concerns, for example, the academy’s theological faculty, which is housed in Engel’s classicist construction from 1831. From more recent times, you can see the architect Eric Brugman’s functionalism in the Boktornet, which belongs to the academy’s library.
Gamla Stortorget is a square that was Turku’s/Åbo’s historical administrative center from its founding in the 13th century until 1827, when large parts of the city perished in a major fire. The square was also the commercial center of Turku/Åbo, and precisely here the Aura Å met with important roads towards the region of Tavastland and towards the city of Viborg.
A number of important buildings were and are located along Gamla Stortorget. If you start from Aura Å, the Pinella pavilion from 1836 is on the north side of the square, while the Katedralskolan high school from 1724 is on the south side. The school was established in 1276 at the cathedral as the first school in Finland. In 1630 the school became a high school, and ten years later Finland’s first university was founded as a continuation of Katedralskolan.
After the Cathedral School, you come to Brinkkalan Talo/Brinkala, known as a stone building since the 16th century. The building was a city residence for a number of years, and at the end of the 18th century a hotel was set up here. In the following decades several royals lived here; among others Tsar Alexander I, who visited the city in 1812. Brinkala also became the seat of the Russian Governor-General in Finland, before it was converted into a town hall after the fire in 1827. It is no longer the case, but from this time the tradition of the Christmas peace declaration, which is proclaimed from here every year, originates.
In the corner of Gamla Stortorget you can see Vanha Raatihuone/Gamla Rådhuset, located on the site where the city’s administrative seat has been since the 14th century. In its original version, the current building was built in Baroque 1734-1736, but the town hall was moved after the fire in 1827 and then rebuilt and expanded.
Next to the old town hall is Hjeltin Talo/Hjeltska Huset, which Captain Hjelt built in 1830 as his mansion. The house architecturally represents the elegant empire style of the time from the Russian capital Saint Petersburg. After being a residence, Hjeltska Huset was furnished with various institutions, which is also the case today.
Behind Hjeltska Huset you can see Juseliuksen Talo/Juseliuska Huset, which was built by Carl Fredrik Juselius in the Neo-Renaissance in 1892. It is therefore the youngest building around Gamle Stortorget. Originally the house was the private residence of Carl Fredrik Juselius, but it has had various other functions since then.
The Craft Museum at Klosterbacken is an area in central Turku/Åbo that, as the only part of the city’s old center, survived the fire in 1827. Klosterbakken had been built on after 1775, when another fire had ravaged the city. The neighborhood was laid out as a new residential area in the last decades of the 18th century, and from this arose the charming urban environment that you can see today.
The neighborhood on Klosterbacken is a kind of large open-air museum today, where the original houses from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century have been preserved. The museum was established in 1940, which was after a time when the original buildings along Sirkkalankatu street had fallen into disrepair, despite the fact that some of Klosterbakken’s oldest houses were located here.
Today, you can experience the old wooden houses on a stroll in the area. They give a good impression of Turku/Åbo at the time, where daily life on Klosterbakken consisted of both homes and workshops. The preserved houses were built from 1789 to 1803, and there are working craftsmen in the museum buildings who work with old craft methods.
Kauppatori/Salutorget is the central market square in Turku/Åbo and is a popular meeting place with cafes, restaurants and markets in season. The square is also the center of the city’s business district, and there are several warehouses and shopping centers around it.
The majority of the buildings around Market Square are modern constructions, but you can also see some older and interesting houses. To the southwest is Turun Ruotsalainen Teatteri/Åbo Svenska Teater, and to the north stands the city’s Orthodox Church, Turun Ortodoksinanen Kirkko/Åbo Ortodoxa Kyrka, as the unifying center of the square.
Turku Orthodox Church is the city’s main church for the Orthodox congregation in Turku/Åbo. Its official name is the Church of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra, and it was built during the time when Finland was part of the Russian Empire.
The church was built by order of Czar Nicholas I from 1839. It was inaugurated in 1845 and designed by the architect Carl Ludvig Engel, who was also behind some of the most well-known buildings in Helsinki at the time, such as the Finnish capital’s cathedral. The interior of the church was mainly decorated with icons and an iconostasis from the Valaam Monastery in Karelia.
Turku Swedish Theater was opened in 1839, and it is today the oldest theater in Finland. However, the history of theater in the former Swedish part of Finland goes back further, as Swedish theater troupes came here with performers in the 18th century, and Bonuvier’s Theater was built as the first theater building in 1810.
Bonuvier’s Theater burned down in 1827, and thereby the need for a new theater arose. The result was the beautiful theater building where Turku Swedish Theater had its premiere with Gubben in Bergsbygden on January 21, 1839. For the first several years, the theater was run with performances by traveling Swedish theaters, before a permanent cast was established in Turku/Åbo.
Turun Kauppahalli/Åbo Saluhall is a beautiful market hall that was opened in 1896 with the aim of gathering many of the stalls in several squares in Turku/Åbo in one place with proper settings and the possibility of better hygiene than out in the open.
It was the architect Gustaf Nyström who designed the building. He had traveled in Europe and studied such constructions, and in 1889 opened his first market building in Finland, Vanha Kauppahalli/Gamla Saluhallen in Helsinki. Gas lamps illuminated the 151 stalls that were from the beginning in 1896 in Turku/Åbo.
New facilities were continuously added to the market hall. Water was installed in 1905, while electricity first came in 1932 and refrigerators in 1957. In the 1970s Turun Kauppahalli/Åbo Saluhall was restored, and it stands today as a popular and atmospheric market hall with many exciting stalls.
The Sibelius Museum is a music museum located on the banks of the Aura Å next to the cathedral in Turku/Åbo. The museum is part of the Foundation for Åbo Akademi’s museums in the city, and it naturally focuses on music, composers and instruments.
The museum’s collections consist of, among other things, a number of musical instruments from all over the world. You can also see sheet music and pictures and enjoy recordings by both the world-famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and other Finnish composers. Concerts are also organized at the museum.
The museum building is also interesting to note. It was designed by the architect Woldemar Baeckman and opened in 1968. The architectural style is contemporary brutalism with the use of concrete. On the outside, Baeckman sought to continue the neighborhood’s old building style in a modern version, and inside there are several exciting details, such as in, for example, the Sibelius Hall.
Forum Marinum is an interesting museum at the harbor in Turku, which describes naval and maritime history. At the museum, there are both indoor exhibitions and a number of museum ships that are located next to the museum. The exhibitions are divided into two buildings, Linnanpuomissa/Slottsbommen and Kruununmakasiinissa/Kronomagasinet, and they depict, among other things, the history of shipbuilding in Finland and life at sea.
The museum ships lie at the quays along Aura Å’s central course through the city. Here you can see the barque Sigyn, which was built in Gothenburg in 1887, the full-rigger Suomen Joutsen from St. Nazaire in 1902 and the minesweeper Keihässalmi, built in Helsinki and commissioned into the Finnish Navy in 1957. There are also a tug, a motor torpedo boat, a police boat and other vessels.
There is also a former ferry among the museum ships. It is the S/S Bore, which was launched from Oskarshamns Varv in 1960 and deployed as the first actual car ferry on the route between Turku/Åbo and Stockholm. From 1977-1984, the ferry served the route between Pietarsaari/Jakobstad and Skellefteå, and later the approximately 100 meter long ferry was fitted out as a cruise ship. Since 2011, S/S Bore has been located in Aura Å as a museum ship and hotel.
Turun Kaupungintalo/Åbo Stadshus is the city’s town hall and at the same time a beautiful neo-Renaissance building located along the banks of the Aura Å. It was the architect Charles Bassi who designed the house, which was built in 1810-1811 as a society house, hotel and restaurant. The house was then used by the Russian emperor and other notables, who could, for example, arrange balls during their stay in the city.
The house survived the fire in 1827, and after a reconstruction by the architect Frans Anatolius Sjöström in the years 1879-1883, it was set up as Åbo’s new town hall. The town hall is the seat of the Turku/Åbo city council, and there are also a number of offices in the elegant building. You can also see the city’s former administration building if you walk along Aura Å to the west. Here is an art nouveau building from 1909, which until 2011 functioned as part of the town hall offices.
Turku Art Museum is the leading art museum in Turku/Åbo. It is run by the Konstföreningen i Turku, which was founded in 1891. The museum is located in the beautiful museum building designed by Gustaf Nyström in the National Romantic style, which was inaugurated in 1904.
At the art museum you can experience works by a number of artists. Here, among other things, there is good representation from the Finnish golden age, which lasted from the middle of the 19th century to around 1920. You can see works by, for example, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Helene Schjerfbeck and Robert Wilhelm Ekman.
Brinkhalls Gård is a manor, idyllically located on one of the many islands in the archipelago south of the center of Turku/Åbo. The building’s history goes back to the 16th century, when Hans Erikson built a small castle on this site and at the same time built Brinkkalan Talo/Brinkala as a city residence in central Turku on what is today called Vanha Suurtori/Gamla Stortorget.
Erikson’s small castle was replaced by the current main building in 1793. It was Gabriel von Bonndorff who designed the house as the first neoclassical manor seat in Finland, and von Bonndorff himself took up residence here. The interior of the building dates from the 1920s, and in 1967 ownership of the place passed to the city of Turku and then to a foundation that has opened the house and the surrounding English landscape garden as a cultural site.
Naantali or Nådendal is a cozy and beautifully situated town in the archipelago off Turku/Åbo. The town is one of the oldest in Finland, and its history began with the construction of one of six Finnish medieval monasteries right here. It was the Naantalin luostaris/Nådendals Kloster that moved to Naantal in 1443. The monastery had trade rights, and the town of Naantal grew up around the monastery, which attracted many pilgrims.
With the Reformation in the 16th century, the monastery closed, and there were times of decline for Naantland, which, however, experienced a new flourishing with the opening of a customs chamber in the 18th century. The town’s growth took off further with tourism, which started with the opening of the first spa in 1863. Naantali/Nådendal is still a popular resort and there are several things to see here.
You can take a nice stroll along the water by the city’s harbour, where you can also visit Naantalin Kirkko/Nådendals Kyrka, which was built as a monastery church in the 15th century. The church dominates the silhouette of Naantandal’s old town, and it stands as the only surviving part of Naantandal Monastery. From here you can also go to the island of Kailo, where you can experience the theme park Muumimaailma/Muminvärlden.
On the island of Luonnonmaa, which lies opposite Naantali/Naantali to the west, is the building Kultaranta/Gullranta, which is the summer residence of the Finnish president. The granite house was built in 1914 by the businessman Alfred Kordelin as a private residence, and in 1922 the place was acquired by the state and furnished as a presidential residence. There is a beautiful park in connection with the residence.
It is easy to get from Turku/Åbo to Naantali/Nådendal by car or public transport, but you can also sail between the cities during the tourist season. The steamship S/S Ukkopekka sails from central Turku/Åbo several times a day. S/S Ukkopekka was built in Helsinki in 1938 and is in itself an experience on the trip through the beautiful Finnish archipelago.
Rauma/Raumo is a town on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. The town obtained city rights in 1442, making Rauma/Raumo the third oldest town in present-day Finland. Today, the city has approximately 40,000 inhabitants, and it is a well-visited city, not least because of the old town, Vanha Rauma/Gamla Raumo, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Gamla Raumo is a typical Nordic town from the time when people built in wood. The quarter is the historic center of the city, which first grew outside Gamla Raumo in the early 1700s. It is also from this time that Gamla Raumo originates. The city had to be rebuilt after major fires in 1640 and 1682, and therefore the approximately 600 preserved buildings in Gamla Raumo are contemporary and create a harmonious urban environment.
You can enjoy Gamla Raumo on a stroll around the neighborhood and enjoy the sight of the old houses. For example, you can start the tour at the church Pyhän Ristin Kirkko/Heliga Korsets Kyrka or Holy Cross Church and from here walk along the streets Pohjankatu, Kuninkaankatu, Kauppakatu and Vanhankirkonkatu and the side streets between these. Here are the neighborhood’s rows of beautiful wooden houses, many of which are painted in bright hues.
The Holy Cross Church is also worth seeing in itself. It was built as a monastery church for a Franciscan monastery that was established here in the 15th century. It is believed that the current church was completed in the early 16th century, while the bell tower is from the 19th century. In the church you can see beautiful wall and ceiling paintings that date from the time when the church was completed.
In addition to the church, you should also see Rauman Raatihuone/Raumo Rådhus, which was built as the town’s town hall in the center of what is today Gamla Raumo. The town hall was completed in 1776, and it was designed by the city architect Christian Friedrich Schröder. It is one of the neighborhood’s few stone buildings, and today you can visit the Rauman Museo/Raumo Museum here. The museum also has a section in the Marela house, where you can take a closer look at daily life around the year 1900.
Sammallahdenmäki is the name of a place where you can experience a series of burial mounds from the Bronze Age. The site is located near the village of Kivikylä in Raumo/Rauma, in an area that was on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia when it was built.
Sammallahdenmäki consists of a total of 33 burial mounds from the Bronze Age between 1500 and 500 BC. The graves are not identical, but rather built in several different patterns and shapes. There are both low and round small cairns and large stack-shaped and round ring-shaped cairns. There is also a square tomb, which is called the Church floor/Kirkonlattia.
Square stone cairns are not known from other parts of Finland, and the shape is also unusual throughout the area for the Scandinavian and Nordic Bronze Age culture. The Bronze Age burial mounds of Sammallahdenmäki were included as Finland’s first archaeological site on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.
Linnankatu 11
forumkortteli.fi
Yliopistonkatu 20
hansakortteli.fi
Myllynkatu 1
kauppakeskusmylly.fi
Skanssinkatu 10
skanssi.fi
Eerikinkatu 16
kauppahalli.fi
Kauppatori, Kauppiaskatu, Aurakatu, Eerikinkatu, Yliopistonkatu
Holiday Club Caribia
Kongressikuja 1
holidayclubresorts.com
Turun Linna/Åbo Slott
Linnankatu 80
turku.fi
SuperPark
Kongressikuja 1
superpark.fi
Forum Marinum
Linnankatu 72
forum-marinum.fi
Cathedral, Turku, Åbo, Finland
Overview of Turku
Turku, with the Swedish name Åbo, is one of Finland’s historically important cities. Turku is Finland’s oldest city, and it is from this area that the country’s name originates. In the Middle Ages, Turku was the capital of the eastern half of what was then Sweden, and the city was the seat of a bishop and the place where Finland’s first university was founded in 1640. When Finland became part of Russia in 1809, Turku briefly became the capital.
In 1812, Russia made Helsinki its new capital because Turku was too Swedish and too close to Stockholm. However, Turku was still the largest city in Finland for several decades. In the meantime, large parts of Turku burned down in 1827, and then Carl Ludvig Engel laid out a new town plan, which he did in several places in the country. You can still walk today in the right-angled street network that was established back then.
There are many sights to see in Turku, and you can start at the city’s market square. Most of the buildings around the square are newer constructions, but you can also see Turku’s Orthodox Church, which was built 1839-1845 at the behest of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I. You can also see Turku Swedish Theatre, and not far from here is the atmospheric market hall from 1896.
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Kauppatori/Salutorget is the central market square in Turku/Åbo and is a popular meeting place with cafes, restaurants and markets in season. The square is also the center of the city’s business district, and there are several warehouses and shopping centers around it.
The majority of the buildings around Market Square are modern constructions, but you can also see some older and interesting houses. To the southwest is Turun Ruotsalainen Teatteri/Åbo Svenska Teater, and to the north stands the city’s Orthodox Church, Turun Ortodoksinanen Kirkko/Åbo Ortodoxa Kyrka, as the unifying center of the square.
Turku Orthodox Church is the city’s main church for the Orthodox congregation in Turku/Åbo. Its official name is the Church of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra, and it was built during the time when Finland was part of the Russian Empire.
The church was built by order of Czar Nicholas I from 1839. It was inaugurated in 1845 and designed by the architect Carl Ludvig Engel, who was also behind some of the most well-known buildings in Helsinki at the time, such as the Finnish capital’s cathedral. The interior of the church was mainly decorated with icons and an iconostasis from the Valaam Monastery in Karelia.
Turku Swedish Theater was opened in 1839, and it is today the oldest theater in Finland. However, the history of theater in the former Swedish part of Finland goes back further, as Swedish theater troupes came here with performers in the 18th century, and Bonuvier’s Theater was built as the first theater building in 1810.
Bonuvier’s Theater burned down in 1827, and thereby the need for a new theater arose. The result was the beautiful theater building where Turku Swedish Theater had its premiere with Gubben in Bergsbygden on January 21, 1839. For the first several years, the theater was run with performances by traveling Swedish theaters, before a permanent cast was established in Turku/Åbo.
Turun Kauppahalli/Åbo Saluhall is a beautiful market hall that was opened in 1896 with the aim of gathering many of the stalls in several squares in Turku/Åbo in one place with proper settings and the possibility of better hygiene than out in the open.
It was the architect Gustaf Nyström who designed the building. He had traveled in Europe and studied such constructions, and in 1889 opened his first market building in Finland, Vanha Kauppahalli/Gamla Saluhallen in Helsinki. Gas lamps illuminated the 151 stalls that were from the beginning in 1896 in Turku/Åbo.
New facilities were continuously added to the market hall. Water was installed in 1905, while electricity first came in 1932 and refrigerators in 1957. In the 1970s Turun Kauppahalli/Åbo Saluhall was restored, and it stands today as a popular and atmospheric market hall with many exciting stalls.
The Sibelius Museum is a music museum located on the banks of the Aura Å next to the cathedral in Turku/Åbo. The museum is part of the Foundation for Åbo Akademi’s museums in the city, and it naturally focuses on music, composers and instruments.
The museum’s collections consist of, among other things, a number of musical instruments from all over the world. You can also see sheet music and pictures and enjoy recordings by both the world-famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and other Finnish composers. Concerts are also organized at the museum.
The museum building is also interesting to note. It was designed by the architect Woldemar Baeckman and opened in 1968. The architectural style is contemporary brutalism with the use of concrete. On the outside, Baeckman sought to continue the neighborhood’s old building style in a modern version, and inside there are several exciting details, such as in, for example, the Sibelius Hall.
Forum Marinum is an interesting museum at the harbor in Turku, which describes naval and maritime history. At the museum, there are both indoor exhibitions and a number of museum ships that are located next to the museum. The exhibitions are divided into two buildings, Linnanpuomissa/Slottsbommen and Kruununmakasiinissa/Kronomagasinet, and they depict, among other things, the history of shipbuilding in Finland and life at sea.
The museum ships lie at the quays along Aura Å’s central course through the city. Here you can see the barque Sigyn, which was built in Gothenburg in 1887, the full-rigger Suomen Joutsen from St. Nazaire in 1902 and the minesweeper Keihässalmi, built in Helsinki and commissioned into the Finnish Navy in 1957. There are also a tug, a motor torpedo boat, a police boat and other vessels.
There is also a former ferry among the museum ships. It is the S/S Bore, which was launched from Oskarshamns Varv in 1960 and deployed as the first actual car ferry on the route between Turku/Åbo and Stockholm. From 1977-1984, the ferry served the route between Pietarsaari/Jakobstad and Skellefteå, and later the approximately 100 meter long ferry was fitted out as a cruise ship. Since 2011, S/S Bore has been located in Aura Å as a museum ship and hotel.
Turun Kaupungintalo/Åbo Stadshus is the city’s town hall and at the same time a beautiful neo-Renaissance building located along the banks of the Aura Å. It was the architect Charles Bassi who designed the house, which was built in 1810-1811 as a society house, hotel and restaurant. The house was then used by the Russian emperor and other notables, who could, for example, arrange balls during their stay in the city.
The house survived the fire in 1827, and after a reconstruction by the architect Frans Anatolius Sjöström in the years 1879-1883, it was set up as Åbo’s new town hall. The town hall is the seat of the Turku/Åbo city council, and there are also a number of offices in the elegant building. You can also see the city’s former administration building if you walk along Aura Å to the west. Here is an art nouveau building from 1909, which until 2011 functioned as part of the town hall offices.
Turku Art Museum is the leading art museum in Turku/Åbo. It is run by the Konstföreningen i Turku, which was founded in 1891. The museum is located in the beautiful museum building designed by Gustaf Nyström in the National Romantic style, which was inaugurated in 1904.
At the art museum you can experience works by a number of artists. Here, among other things, there is good representation from the Finnish golden age, which lasted from the middle of the 19th century to around 1920. You can see works by, for example, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Helene Schjerfbeck and Robert Wilhelm Ekman.
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