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Founded: 1689 - 20th centuryCategory: Industrial sites in Finland
Historical period: Swedish Empire (Finland)
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The iron manufacturing in Kauttua started in 1689, when nobleman Lorentz Creutz was granted to establish an ironworks to Kauttua rapids. The ironworks business created an historically valuable industrial village milieu, which is called today as “Kauttua Ruukinpuisto”. In 1907 the ironworks was acquired by Ahlström Oy and it was changed to manufacture paper.
Most of village buildings are from the 19th century. One of the most finest buildings is so called clubhouse (functioning as restaurant today), which was built in 1802. There are also many buildings designed by the most famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Today the ironworks area is open to the public providing accomodation, conference and restaurant services. There’s also an ironworks museum and guided tours to milieu are available.
German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of the Cēsis castle (Wenden) near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the residence for the Order's Master from 1237 till 1561, with periodic interruptions. Its ruins are some of the most majestic castle ruins in the Baltic states. Once the most important castle of the Livonian Order, it was the official residence for the masters of the order.
In 1577, during the Livonian War, the garrison destroyed the castle to prevent it from falling into the control of Ivan the Terrible, who was decisively defeated in the Battle of Wenden (1578).
In 1598 it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Wenden Voivodship was created here. In 1620 Wenden was conquered by Sweden. It was rebuilt afterwards, but was destroyed again in 1703 during the Great Northern War by the Russian army and left in a ruined state. Already from the end of the 16th century, the premises of the Order's castle were adjusted to the requirements of the Cēsis Castle estate. When in 1777 the Cēsis Castle estate was obtained by Count Carl Sievers, he had his new residence house built on the site of the eastern block of the castle, joining its end wall with the fortification tower.
Since 1949, the Cēsis History Museum has been located in this New Castle of the Cēsis Castle estate. The front yard of the New Castle is enclosed by a granary and a stable-coach house, which now houses the Exhibition Hall of the Museum. Beside the granary there is the oldest brewery in Latvia, Cēsu alus darītava, which was built in 1878 during the later Count Sievers' time, but its origins date back to the period of the Livonian Order. Further on, the Cēsis Castle park is situated, which was laid out in 1812. The park has the romantic characteristic of that time, with its winding footpaths, exotic plants, and the waters of the pond reflecting the castle's ruins. Nowadays also one of the towers is open for tourists.