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


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

User Reviews

Yanni H (32 days ago)
Hardly a castle.
Michael 1968 (7 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 (9 months ago)
Winter time the castle is closed, waiting for the summer..
Konark mehra (10 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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Decin Castle

Perched atop its cliff where the Ploučnice meets the Elbe, Děčín Castle is one of the oldest and largest landmarks in northern Bohemia. In the past several hundred years it has served as a point of control for the Bohemian princes, a military fortress, and noble estate.

The forerunner of the Děčín Castle was a wooden fortress built towards the end of the 10th century by the Bohemian princes. The first written record of the province dates from 993 A.D. and of the fortress itself from 1128. In the thirteenth century it was rebuilt in stone as a royal castle that, under unknown circumstances, fell into the hands of the powerful Wartenberg dynasty around 1305.

Numerous later renovations has erased all but fragments of the original medieval semblance of the castle. A significant change to the castle came in the second half of the 16th century when it was held by the Saxon Knights of Bünau, who gradually rebuilt the lower castle into a Renaissance palace with a grand ceremonial hall. The current semblance of the castle is the work of the Thun-Hohensteins, who held the Děčín lands from 1628 to 1932. The Thuns originally came from southern Tyrol and gradually worked their way to the upper echelons of Hapsburg society where they regularly filled important political and church appointments.

The Thuns reworked the castle twice. The first reconstruction, in the Baroque style, was undertaken by Maximilian von Thun, Imperial envoy and diplomat, and was meant to enhance the ceremonial aspects of the property. A central element of the project was a grand access road, the Long Drive, ending in the upper gate of the completely rebuilt entry wing. Along the drive stretched an ornamental garden (today known as the Rose Garden) and a riding yard. Maximilian’s brother Johann Ernst von Thun was responsible for the erection of the Church of the Ascension of the Holy Cross in the town below.

The second and final reconstruction of the castle was undertaken in 1786–1803. The Gothic and Renaissance palaces were torn down, all structures were leveled to the same height and gave them a unified facade. On the riverfront the castle's new dominant feature arose, a slender clock tower. Thus the castle took on the Baroque-Classical style we see today.

In the course of the 19th century, the castle became an important cultural and political center. In the 20th century the castle was used as a military garrison for German and Soviet troops after being handed to the Czechoslovak state in 1932. In 1991 the castle reverted to the ownership of the city of Děčín and the gradual renovation of the devastated structure began.

The eastern wing serves as a branch of the Děčín Regional Museum. The northern wing is occupied by the State District Archives. The staterooms of the western wing welcome individual and group tours, weddings, concerts, exhibits, and other cultural events. The castle courtyard comes to life throughout the year with events ranging from the Historic May Fair to the Wine Festival in September.

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