Archangel Michael's church, Turku, Finland

Archangel Michael's Church was designed by famous architect Lars Sonck and finished in 1905. When Sonck won the competition for the church in 1894, he was only a 23-year old architectural student. The neogothic style red-brick church dominates the western skyline of the city of Turku. It’s one of the most popular wedding churches in Turku being able to seat 1,800 people.

User Reviews

Ashley Chan (2 years ago)
Beautiful church with wonderful staff. Note that I came here on a Sunday, and they have mass (in Finnish) at 11am. If you were like me and read that they have organ (instrument) demonstrations at noon, please note that they do not happen in the summer unfortunately. It still is beautiful to look at though. Also note that when you check the doors for entry, try the main entrance first (3 doors) and the middle (2nd) right door (pull) is your best bet. This Church is also a Pokémon Go Gym ;P

Sahan Liyanaarachchi (2 years ago)
Nice architecture!

Mikko Tyllinen (2 years ago)
Very atmospheric, elegant, beautiful, intricately designed church with nice acoustic. Mishaels church is a distinguished example of the neolithic style in architecture. And is one of the most popular weddings churches in Turku, being able to seat 1800 people. Church was finished in 1905

Rafael Bohorque (2 years ago)
Beautiful church in and out. Inside it looks a bit tacky, that you may think it is not a church. I like how it looks spotless and free for everybody to take a peak.

Nana Långstedt (4 years ago)
Looks like a fairytale castle on the outside. Beautiful, intricately designed church.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Frans.Sellies

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Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Kroměříž stands on the site of an earlier ford across the River Morava. The gardens and castle of Kroměříž are an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European Baroque princely residence and its gardens and described as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first residence on the site was founded by bishop Stanislas Thurzo in 1497. The building was in a Late Gothic style, with a modicum of Renaissance detail. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was sacked by the Swedish army (1643).

It was not until 1664 that a bishop from the powerful Liechtenstein family charged architect Filiberto Lucchese with renovating the palace in a Baroque style. The chief monument of Lucchese's work in Kroměříž is the Pleasure Garden in front of the castle. Upon Lucchese's death in 1666, Giovanni Pietro Tencalla completed his work on the formal garden and had the palace rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Turinese school to which he belonged.

After the castle was gutted by a major fire in March 1752, Bishop Hamilton commissioned two leading imperial artists, Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Josef Stern, arrived at the residence in order to decorate the halls of the palace with their works. In addition to their paintings, the palace still houses an art collection, generally considered the second finest in the country, which includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The largest part of the collection was acquired by Bishop Karel in Cologne in 1673. The palace also contains an outstanding musical archive and a library of 33,000 volumes.

UNESCO lists the palace and garden among the World Heritage Sites. As the nomination dossier explains, 'the castle is a good but not outstanding example of a type of aristocratic or princely residence that has survived widely in Europe. The Pleasure Garden, by contrast, is a very rare and largely intact example of a Baroque garden'. Apart from the formal parterres there is also a less formal nineteenth-century English garden, which sustained damage during floods in 1997.

Interiors of the palace were extensively used by Miloš Forman as a stand-in for Vienna's Hofburg Imperial Palace during filming of Amadeus (1984), based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who actually never visited Kroměříž. The main audience chamber was also used in the film Immortal Beloved (1994), in the piano concerto scene.

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