"Kastelholm Castle (Swedish: Kastelholms slott) is a Swedish-built medieval castle located off Road 2 in Sund, Åland, Finland, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Mariehamn, overlooking a fjord to the south of the village of Kastelholm. Along with Hämeenlinna, Olavinlinna in Savonlinna, Raseborg, and Turku, Kastelholm is one of only five surviving Finnish medieval fortresses that are also considered to be architecturally substantial. Built in the 14th century, and held in fief during the Middle Ages by various nobles, feudal chiefs, and kings, it had significant period in the 15th and 16th centuries." This is on Wikipedia. (
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Kastelholm castle was built in the 14th century. Later castle has been burned down for many times. For a time, it served as a prison but by the 1770s it was abandoned.Kastelholm was partly used as a granary for taxation grain and as a quarry for local farmers in the 1930s. A restoration program, advanced from 1982 through 1989, involved archaeological excavations. Today, much of the Kastelhom Castle is reconstructed and if you compare photo taken on 1904 to the photo taken 2023, you will notice level of restauration. Not everything cannot built again, but like on right side of original photo is high wall, which is now completed and there is walkway to connect towers.
Picture is from inner court of castle. Now wooden bridge leads into tower. On left side of picture, structures of the Hall are now fully build to its former glory. Only that these are actually hollow and there is almost nothing on inside. Cannot see from picture.
Old Photo was taken by Reinhold Hausen. Its copyrights are by Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland under licence of CC BY 4.0.
Reinhold Hausen was an early photography enthusiast. He has preserved an image of thousands of photographs. Hausen started filming already in the 1860s. The early pictures focus on antiquarian fieldwork, the main sites being the castle ruins of Kastelholm and Kuusisto. The surviving photocollection from the 1860s and 1870s is the most extensive among Finnish cinematographers.