Story
The story of Porvoo Cathedral
On 28 March 1809, this church witnessed a turning point in Finnish history: the first Diet of Finland opened here, and Finland was declared an autonomous Grand Duchy, with the Emperor of Russia as its Grand Duke. The church itself is far older. It began as a wooden building, and its oldest parts date from the 13th century.
The first stone walls went up between 1410 and 1420, and around 1450 the church was extended towards the east and the south. It burned in 1508 at the hands of Danish forces, and in 1571, 1590 and 1708 at the hands of Russian forces. In 1941, during the Continuation War, a bomb struck it but did not explode.
Then, on 29 May 2006, the outer roof collapsed in an arson fire, yet the inner ceiling and the interior survived, and the cathedral reopened on 2 July 2008. It became a cathedral in 1723 and is the seat of Finland's Swedish-speaking diocese.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Porvoo
- Iso LinnamäkiHill fort in central Porvoo on the Porvoo River at the edge of Old Porvoo, probably built in the Middle Ages.
- Old PorvooThe oldest district and historic centre of Porvoo, known for its medieval street plan and well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century buildings.
- Porvoo Finnish ChurchWooden Lutheran church in Old Porvoo, right next to Porvoo Cathedral, consecrated in 1740.
- Porvoo MuseumPorvoo Museum is a history museum established in 1897 in Porvoo, Finland. The museum is the regional responsibility museum of Eastern Uusimaa.
- Runeberg museumHouse in Porvoo where Finland's national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg lived from 1852 until his death in 1877.
- Porvoo Old Town HallThe Porvoo Town Hall is a former town hall and current museum in Porvoo, Finland. It is located in the old town of Porvoo, in the immediate vicinity of the market square.