Oulu Castle, Oulu, Finland - SpottingHistory.com

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

User Reviews

Yanni H (3 years ago)
Hardly a castle.

Michael 1968 (3 years 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 (3 years ago)
Winter time the castle is closed, waiting for the summer..

Konark mehra (3 years ago)
Scenic and picturesque. Great experience to be there.

Sonia Kuismanen (4 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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The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

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