St. Olaf's Castle
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Olavinlinna (also known as St. Olaf's Castle; sv, Olofsborg; german: Olafsburg; literally ''Olof's Castle'') is a 15th-century three-tower castle located in
Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikke ...
,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
. It is built on an island in the Kyrönsalmi strait that connects the lakes Haukivesi and Pihlajavesi. It is the northernmost
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
stone fortress still standing. The castle forms a spectacular stage for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, held for the first time in the summer 1912.


History

The fortress was founded by
Erik Axelsson Tott Erik Axelsson (Tott) (c. 1419–1481) was a Dano-Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden under the Kalmar Union, jointly with Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna in 1457 and alone from 1466 to 1467. Biography He was born in Scania during the reign of K ...
in 1475 under the name ''Sankt Olofsborg'' in an effort to profit from the political turmoil following
Ivan III Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his bl ...
's conquest of the
Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...
. It was sited in Savonia so as to lay claim to the Russian side of the border established by the
Treaty of Nöteborg The Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as the ''Treaty of Oreshek'' ( sv, Freden i Nöteborg, Russian: ''Ореховский мир,'' fi, Pähkinäsaaren rauha), is a conventional name for the peace treaty signed at Oreshek ( sv, Nöteborg, fi, ...
. One of Tott's letters from 1477 includes a passing mention of foreign builders invited to Olofsborg, probably from
Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...
, where the city fortifications were being extended. It was the first Swedish castle provided with a set of thickset circular towers that could withstand
cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
fire. It is not by accident that a network of lakes and waterways forms the setting for the castle, for these would seriously impede a prospective Russian offensive. The three-towered keep was completed in 1485, and the construction of the outer curtain walls with two towers was initiated immediately. They were completed in 1495. The castle is roughly a truncated rhomboid with keep on the western side of the island and the curtain walls and outer bailey to east. One of the towers of the keep, St. Erik's Tower, has a bad foundation and has since collapsed. One of the towers of Bailey, the Thick Tower, exploded in the 18th century. A bastion has been built on its place. The castle was converted into a Vaubanesque
fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
in the late 18th century with bastions. # Keep # Outer Bailey # Bell Tower (St. Virgin's Tower) # Church Tower (St. Olof's Tower) # Kijl's Tower # Thick Bastion (on place of Thick Tower) # Ruins of the collapsed St Erik's Tower # Bell Bastion (semi-bastion) # Gateway Curtain # Watergate Curtain # Curtain wall # Smallgate Bastion # Suvorov's Bailey


Warfare

Olofsborg withstood several sieges by the Russians during the First and Second Russian-Swedish wars. A brisk trade developed under the umbrella of the castle towards the end of the 16th century, giving birth to the town of
Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikke ...
, which was chartered in 1639. While the castle was never captured by force, its garrison agreed to terms of surrender twice; first to invading Russians on 28 July 1714 and the second time on 8 August 1743, with the latter conflict's peace treaty in form of the
Treaty of Åbo The Treaty of Åbo or the Treaty of Turku was a peace treaty signed between the Russian Empire and Sweden in Åbo ( fi, Turku) on in the end of the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743. History By the end of the war, the Imperial Russian Army had ...
leading to the castle and the entire region being seceded to
Empress Elizabeth Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of ...
of Russia. During the Russian era
Alexander Suvorov Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy ...
personally inspected rearmament of the fortress. Several devastating fires destroyed much of the castle's decor in the 19th century, all of its original furnishings were destroyed.


Tourism

The castle hosts several small exhibitions, including the Castle Museum which displays artifacts found in the castle or related to it, and the Orthodox Museum which displays icons and other religious artifacts both from Finland and Russia. Olavinlinna is the initial model for Kropow Castle in the
bande dessinée (singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition ...
''
King Ottokar's Sceptre ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' (french: link=no, Le Sceptre d'Ottokar) is the eighth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper for its children's sup ...
'', an album in the series of Adventures of Tintin created by
Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...
.Severi Nygård: Tintti Suomessa. ''Helsingin Sanomat'', Kuukausiliite, October 2008.


Gallery


See also

* Brahe Castle


References


External links


St. Olaf's Castle
at the Finnis
National Board of Antiquities

Savonlinna Opera Festival
– Official website
Medieval castles in Finland

The Association of Castles and Museums around the Baltic Sea
{{Authority control Castles in Finland Savonlinna Buildings and structures in South Savo Museums in South Savo History museums in Finland Religious museums in Finland History of South Savo Water castles Churches dedicated to Saint Olav in Finland