Korsholm Castle Ruins

Vaasa, Finland

Korsholm Castle was a medieval castle in Vaasa. It was probably built in the 1370s and the oldest record dates back to 1384 (the testament of Bo Jonsson Grip, where the castle was called as Krytzeborg). The castle was originally built to a small island and it was surrounded by a moat and two walls. The castle itself was probably built of wood.

In the Middle Ages Korsholm was a property of several nobles. The most famous of them was Sten Sture the Older. In 1748 the new governor house was built to the site and all medieval structures were demolished. The next house was built in 1851 but it was destroyed by the great fire of Vaasa in 1852. Today a low mound is all that remains of the castle. There is also a monument dedicated to the castle.

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Address

Korsholmankatu 2, Vaasa, Finland
See all sites in Vaasa

Details

Founded: 1370s
Category: Ruins in Finland
Historical period: Middle Ages (Finland)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.1/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Vaasa City Hall (6,2 km)
Vaasa Church (6,2 km)
Ostrobothnian Museum (6,8 km)
The Church of St. Mary (0,6 km)
Mustasaari Church (0,5 km)
The Museum of Maritime History (7,9 km)


Maalahti Church (16,5 km)
Koivulahti Church (12 km)
Maksamaa Church (23,6 km)
Pirttikylä Church (40,2 km)
Raippaluoto Church (23,6 km)

User Reviews

Jonna Sheya (5 months ago)
Beautiful place and will written information about the ruins and the time they were built in Finnish, Swedish as well as in English. Easy to find and close to the city centre if you have a car at your disposal. I think there's also a bus going there but we visited on a cold day and took the car therefore. Open entry, meaning no fee and no fences so they can be accessed 24/7.
Tomáš Titěra (8 months ago)
Well-preserved ruins of a church, a school and other buildings of the old city. All the necessary information are provided on information boards in Finnish, Swedish and English. The city seems to know how to properly protect its heritage.
Jim Lyons (10 months ago)
Ruins of Vaasa. Very interesting and the signs have an English option.
Demetra Strateva (10 months ago)
Well preserved church, good park, could not find the museum.
Tom Elzholz (11 months ago)
Great location with a lot of Information boards to learn something about the history of this place.
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Moszna Castle

The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.

The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms. The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.

After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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