Kultaranta

Naantali, Finland

Kultaranta (Golden beach) is the summer residence of the President of Finland. The granite manor house was built by Alfred Kordelin in 1913-16. Kordelin was an industrialist, businessman and one of the richest Finnish entrepreneurs of his time. He was kidnapped by a group of Red Guards and murdered by a Russian sailor on 7 November 1917. Kordelin was childless and the manor's ownership shifted to the University of Turku. In 1922, the Finnish Parliament voted to acquire it for use as the president's summer residence.

Kultaranta was designed by the famous architect Lars Sonck. It’s surrounded by 560,000 square metres of park, belonging to the property. The parks around the manor, containing approximately a thousand square metres of greenhouse and a garden with 3500 roses called Medaljonki ('medallion'), are open to the public. Tours in the garden are organised by the City of Naantali's tourist service.

Reference: Wikipedia

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1913-1916
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Finland
Historical period: Russian Grand Duchy (Finland)

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Charles Beresford (2 years ago)
Was a great privilege to visit the summer home of Finland's president. Beautiful place and relaxing environment, even though you have small window of time there and feel like you are entering a secure compound you do feel like you entered the grounds of the Whitehouse. Also don't be freaked out if you see plain clothed men in bushes they are the security police watching your every move. ☺️
Sami L (2 years ago)
5/5
Niko Sipola (3 years ago)
Closed often and at winter, but looks cozy from distance
Mikko Immonen (3 years ago)
The tour around the park is recommended!
Dmitry Cherkas (3 years ago)
Very nice park with awesome atmosphere you 100% like if will stop for a second, hold your breath, close your yeas... Sorry, but my bad pictures not even touch that feeling... need to come and try yourself!
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Château de Foix

The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians.