The medieval stone church of Ås date back to the 12th century. It is the only church in Öland where the tower is located in the east side. The church was enlarged in 1770 and the interior is mainly from the 18th-19th centuries. The pulpit is very unusual; this nineteenth century work is directly above the altar, an arrangement rarely seen in Swedish churches. The church is long established as a landmark for seafarers. During the nineteenth century the tower was rebuilt to incorporate a lantern, so that it doubled as an early lighthouse.
References:Goryōkaku (五稜郭) (literally, 'five-point fort') is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.
Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō and Jules Brunet. Their plans was based on the work of the French architect Vauban. The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.
The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the Tsugaru Strait against a possible invasion by the Meiji government.
Goryōkaku is famous as the site of the last battle of the Boshin War.