Oulu Castle

Oulu, Finland

Oulu castle ("Uleåborg") was built in 1590 for a stronghold to Swedish soldiers on their way to fight against Russian Karelia. The castle was mostly made of wood and earth walls. There probably was an earlier medieval castle on the same location. The Russian Sophia Chronicle has recorded that men from Novgorod tried to conquer a new castle in the Oulu River delta in 1377 but were unsuccessful. King of Sweden, Charles IX ordered to rebuild the castle in 1605. Old wooden parts were demolished and a new wall was built around the castle island.

Russians burned down wooden parts of the Oulu castle during the Great Northern War in 1715. Final destruction occured in 1793, when thunderstorm set the castle on fire and gunpowder magazine exploded.

Wooden constructions on the remaining powder magazine date from 1875 when the Oulu School of Sea Captains built their observatory on the site. The building has been a cafeteria since 1912 with a small exhibition on the castle history.

Reference: Wikipedia

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Address

Merikoskenkatu, Oulu, Finland
See all sites in Oulu

Details

Founded: 1590
Category: Ruins in Finland
Historical period: Reformation (Finland)

More Information

oulu.ouka.fi
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Oulu City Hall (0,4 km)
Oulu Cathedral (0,5 km)
Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia (0,4 km)


Turkansaari (13,7 km)
Kempele Old Church (11,2 km)
Kierikki Centre (44,1 km)
Ylikiiminki Church (31 km)
Haukipudas Church (18,9 km)
Iin Hamina (34,5 km)
Temmes Church (38,6 km)

User Reviews

Yanni H (5 months ago)
Hardly a castle.
Michael 1968 (11 months ago)
There's not much left from the casle, built in 1592 for fighting the Karelians. Only the (pretty small) basement still exists. On the basement there is a very nice cafe where you can get all possible kinds of icecream (alas with no cream on it ;-). The cafe is in a sailor' s school, probably From the late 18th Century ; it looks great, like a kind of lighthouse building. It has a very nice "garden" where you can sit down and enjoy the landscape and the food or drinks. The peninsula on which it is, Linnansaari, is very popular among motorcyclists (male as well as female) and there is a sort of "lift" for waterskiing at the edge of Linnansaari. For the "castle" 4/10, for the rest 8/10.
Milena Kostadinova (13 months ago)
Winter time the castle is closed, waiting for the summer..
Konark mehra (14 months ago)
Scenic and picturesque. Great experience to be there.
Sonia Kuismanen (2 years ago)
Really nice old structure. It includes a cafe and book shop. You can enjoy coffee or tea at the top of the tower and see Oulu. Dogs are welcome as well!
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Limburg Cathedral

The Cathedral of Limburg is one of the best preserved late Romanesque style buildings. It is unknown When the first church was built above the Lahn river. Archaeological discoveries have revealed traces of a 9th-century church building in the area of the current chapel. It was probably built in Merovingian times as a castle and the chapel added in the early 9th century.

In 910 AD, Count Konrad Kurzbold (cousin of the future King Konrad I) founded a collegiate chapter of 18 canons, who lived according to the rule of Bishop Chrodegang of Metz, on the hilltop site. The original castle chapel was torn down and a three-aisled basilica was built in its place. The foundations of this basilica have been found beneath the present floor.

The construction of current cathedral is dated to 1180-90. The consecration was performed in 1235 by the archbishop of Trier. It seems certain that the cathedral was built in four stages. The first stage encompassed the west facade, the south side aisle, the choir and the transept up to the matroneum. This section forms the Conradine church. The second stage consisted of the addition of the inner pillars of the south nave. In this stage the bound system was first introduced. In the third phase, the matroneum in the southern nave was built. The fourth stage included the north side of the transept and the choir matroneum. By this stage Gothic influence is very clear.

The interior was destroyed by Swedish soldiers during the Thirty Years War (1618-48) and reconstructed in a late Baroque style in 1749. The Baroque renovation was heavy-handed: the surviving medieval stained glass windows were replaced; all the murals were covered up; the ribs of the vaults and columns of the arcades were painted blue and red; the capstones were gilded; the original high altar was replaced. The colorfully painted exterior was coated in plain white and the central tower was extended by 6.5 meters.

The collegiate chapter of Limburg was dissolved in 1803 during the Napoleonic period, but then raised to the rank of cathedral in 1827 when the bishopric of Limburg was founded. Some renovations in contemporary style followed: the walls were coated white, the windows were redone in blue and orange (the heraldic colors of the Duke of Nassau) and towers were added to the south transept (1865).

Further changes came after Limburg was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. It was now the Romantic period and the cathedral was accordingly restored to an idealized vision of its original Romanesque appearance. The exterior stonework was stripped of all its plaster and paint, to better conform with the Romantic ideal of a medieval church growing out of the rock. The Baroque interior was stripped away and the wall paintings were uncovered and repainted.

Further renovations came in 1934-35, enlightened by better knowledge of the original art and architecture. Art Nouveau stained glass windows were also added. A major restoration in 1965-90 included replastering and painting the exterior, both to restore it to its original appearance and to protect the stonework, which was rapidly deteriorating while exposed to the elements.

The interior is covered in medieval frescoes dating from 1220 to 1235. They are magnificent and important survivals, but time has not been terribly kind to them - they were whitewashed over in the Baroque period (1749) and uncovered and repainted with a heavy hand in the Romantic period (1870s) before finally being restored more sensitively in the 1980s.

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