1311 Must have been a good year...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Today I visited several beautiful structures in and around Turku, three of which are estimated to be about 700 years old:  Turun Linna (Castle at Turku),  Turun Tuomiokirkko  (Turku Cathedral) and the much smaller but equally significant historically, Pyhä Martin Kirkko (St. Martin's Church) of Raisio.  We also made a quick visit to St. Bridget's and Blessed Hemming's Parish also in Turku, one of only 6 Roman Catholic Churches in ALL of Finland.

Stained glass mural at St. Bridget & Blessed Hemming Church

 Turku, founded in the early 1300's, was the medieval capital of Finland and remained so until Russia won Finland from Sweden in 1809 .  Turku, the oldest city in Finland.

The first stop this morning was St. Bridget's and Blessed Hemming's Roman Catholic Church.  A very modern structure set among what look like office buildings, The church is named for Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden and an early  Bishop of Finland, the martyr, Blessed Hemming.  This parish has an English liturgy on Sunday evenings and I looked it up on the internet before I left home, but had not yet visited, and probably would not have found it, if not for Leena.   It has a beautiful wall of stained glass and some lovely modern, but not awful, religious art.

The  castle was our 2nd stop. The Castle & Museum at Turku

Built  to defend Sweden's claim on the territory, it only gradually and then only briefly, became a Renaissance-style palace.

Turun Linna (Turku Castle)

 It reverted to a fortress and a prison in the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries.  Heavily damaged in WW II, it was restored in the late 20th c. and currently serves as a museum and center for cultural events.  I took the English language tour of the medieval (the oldest) sections of the castle.  It was well worth the admission price.

St. Nicholas Statue, Turku Castle Museum

We took a break from touring to have lunch at IKEA in Raisio and shopped (duh!) but Leena whisked us back to Turku to see the Cathedral.  Also 700 years old (dedicated early in the 14th c.)

Main Altar, Turku Cathedral

This cathedral began as the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Finland in the early  1300's and remained an important religious center after the conversion to Lutheranism in the 16th c. continuing to the present day.   Blessed Hemming (namesake of the current Roman Catholic Church mentioned above) is buried in this cathedral, as are several important figures in Finnish religious and secular history.

Listening to piano music in front of the Turku Cathedral. 

The cathedral continues to host art and music shows (there was an art show displayed while we were here) and appears to be a vibrant community with services held several times per week in Finnish, Swedish and English.

As we left we were charmed by (what appeared to be) an impromptu piano concert held in the square in front of  the cathedral.  Someone had moved a grand piano and set it down in front of the cathedral in the brilliant sunshine.  We learned later he was playing his own compositions and selling CDs.  Anu & I both bought one!

Music by D.Martello@MusikschuleKonstanz

Aura River.  Turku, Finland

My hosts continued my tour of Turku by driving me around to see the university buildings and more of the river front.   It was a beautiful day and the city looked good.

Leena wanted me to see the Russian Orthodox church in Turku and Sami found it for us but it was not open.  We stopped and had coffee in the nearby market square instead, enjoying the warm sunshine and the cosmopolitan atmosphere of that neighborhood, different from the cathedral.   We decided to stop at one more church on our way home:  St. Martin's Church in Raisio.

Model "Votive" ship (c. 1786) St. Martin's Church, Raisio

Main Altar and commemorative clock.  St. Martin's Church

Painting of the Prophet Obadiah.  Unusual for its time, the text is written in Finnish.

St. Martin's Church is also one of the oldest church communities in Finland, commonly understood to have begun in 1305.  Two of the oldest documented tomb stones in Finland are located here and were found during a renovation in 1969.   This is a functioning parish as well, with a beautiful church yard, memorial groves for cremated remains, and meditation gardens.  Like almost all the churches Leena found for me to visit, this one also had a knowledgeable and English-speaking guide who happily produced an English language version of their church history brochure.  That guide told us the prophet paintings (c. 15th) were unique for their day because the biblical verses inscribed below each were written in Finnish.   At the time almost every thing in these churches was written in Swedish or Latin.

St. Martin's Church, Raisio.  One of the oldest greystone churches in Finland.

My compliments to my friend Saku's mother, Leena, who did the internet research to find the church addresses and to his brother Sami & sister-in-law, Anu, who chauffeured us all over Turku, and Raisio and translated for me.

After touring St. Martin's we decided to head home to Rauma and dinner with the whole family, or as much of it as we could gather together:  Saku's dad Simo, his mom Leena, brother Sami and his wife Anu, and Anne and the twins.  Saku, unfortunately could not join us as he was at their summer house working on (what else?) the sauna!

My Turku guides:  (L to R) Anu, Leena and Sami

So, we had a great dinner at the Black Cat Cellar Restaurant in Rauma.  The almost-one-year-old twins were excellent children, eating their Cheerios patiently while the adults ate and then eating some fruit and yogurt for Anne & Leena like little angels.  Tomorrow will be a quieter day for me;  I plan to help Anne around the house to get ready for the BIG birthday party for the twins on Saturday.