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

Website (optional)


Address

Kordelininkatu, Naantali, Finland
See all sites in Naantali

Details

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

More Information

www.naantalinmatkailu.fi
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Naantali Church (0,9 km)
Stenberga Castle Ruins (7,4 km)


Turku Cathedral (15,4 km)
Turku Castle (13,1 km)
Rusko Church (13,6 km)
Masku Church (12 km)
Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova (15,2 km)
Vehmaa Church (30 km)
Forum Marinum (13,3 km)
Mynämäki Church (23,5 km)
Rymättylä Church (10,6 km)

User Reviews

JF GARDAIRE (5 months ago)
Bon, nous n'avons pas pu prendre le café avec le président mais la visite était très intéressante et nos guides bilingues, voire trilingues étaient très agréables et disponibles
Aino Turunen (5 months ago)
Puutarha oli kaunis mut tosissaan voisi vähän enemmän panostaa opastukseen. Vaikutti että opas opetellut muutamat lauseet ulkoa eikä osannut mihinkään kysymyksiin vastata. Kokonaisuudessaan ainoa tieto minkä sai oli, että jokainen presidentti tuonut alueelle omia juttujaan. Ei pahemmin muuta. Aika pettymys..
Javier Campos (2 years ago)
Kultaranta, residencia veraniega de la presidenta del país, con grandes jardines llenos de flores (en verano).
Oki Ukkola (2 years ago)
e h (2 years ago)
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Best castles to visit in Slovakia
Photo from Flickr, copyright trekkpics

Historic Site of the week

Decin Castle

Perched atop its cliff where the Ploučnice meets the Elbe, Děčín Castle is one of the oldest and largest landmarks in northern Bohemia. In the past several hundred years it has served as a point of control for the Bohemian princes, a military fortress, and noble estate.

The forerunner of the Děčín Castle was a wooden fortress built towards the end of the 10th century by the Bohemian princes. The first written record of the province dates from 993 A.D. and of the fortress itself from 1128. In the thirteenth century it was rebuilt in stone as a royal castle that, under unknown circumstances, fell into the hands of the powerful Wartenberg dynasty around 1305.

Numerous later renovations has erased all but fragments of the original medieval semblance of the castle. A significant change to the castle came in the second half of the 16th century when it was held by the Saxon Knights of Bünau, who gradually rebuilt the lower castle into a Renaissance palace with a grand ceremonial hall. The current semblance of the castle is the work of the Thun-Hohensteins, who held the Děčín lands from 1628 to 1932. The Thuns originally came from southern Tyrol and gradually worked their way to the upper echelons of Hapsburg society where they regularly filled important political and church appointments.

The Thuns reworked the castle twice. The first reconstruction, in the Baroque style, was undertaken by Maximilian von Thun, Imperial envoy and diplomat, and was meant to enhance the ceremonial aspects of the property. A central element of the project was a grand access road, the Long Drive, ending in the upper gate of the completely rebuilt entry wing. Along the drive stretched an ornamental garden (today known as the Rose Garden) and a riding yard. Maximilian’s brother Johann Ernst von Thun was responsible for the erection of the Church of the Ascension of the Holy Cross in the town below.

The second and final reconstruction of the castle was undertaken in 1786–1803. The Gothic and Renaissance palaces were torn down, all structures were leveled to the same height and gave them a unified facade. On the riverfront the castle's new dominant feature arose, a slender clock tower. Thus the castle took on the Baroque-Classical style we see today.

In the course of the 19th century, the castle became an important cultural and political center. In the 20th century the castle was used as a military garrison for German and Soviet troops after being handed to the Czechoslovak state in 1932. In 1991 the castle reverted to the ownership of the city of Děčín and the gradual renovation of the devastated structure began.

The eastern wing serves as a branch of the Děčín Regional Museum. The northern wing is occupied by the State District Archives. The staterooms of the western wing welcome individual and group tours, weddings, concerts, exhibits, and other cultural events. The castle courtyard comes to life throughout the year with events ranging from the Historic May Fair to the Wine Festival in September.

Map Top Sights Tags Historical Periods City Guides About Us Sign Up Upload new site
© 2019 SpottingHistory.com. All rights reserved.