We rode through a terrain of flat landscape and gently rolling hills to Porvoo, the oldest existing town in the area. Even so, the buildings are not as old as they could have been. In 1720, a woman who had been cooking dinner in her kitchen thought the fire was out and went to bed. The flames crackled to life, igniting the house on fire, which spread throughout the entire town. Porvoo had to be rebuilt.
I wonder how the inhabitants at that time reacted to the woman’s simple mistake. I hope there were no lives lost.
Still, the buildings in the old section of town are about 200 years old, far older than anything in Fairbanks, Alaska, or even in much of the United States.
Por is Finnish for castle, and Voo means river, so Provoo means River Castle, or Castle-by-the-River, but the castle no longer exists so we visited only the town.
Finland had been part of Sweden at this time, but in the early 19th century it came under Russian rule. I had not fully realized when I booked the trip that Finland shared its eastern border with Russia, and it has been very interesting to learn more about the relationship between the two countries from a Finnish perspective.
In 1809 Tsar Alexander I visited Provo and, in Provo’s church, made a statement that although he was now head of state for Finland, he would not make any governmental changes, such as mandate which religion needed to be worshipped. Finland would remain an autonomous state. While he was there a beautiful local noble, Katharina, caught his eye, and he returned often to visit her and Porvoo. Even though Katharina was nobility, she was too low in the ranking system to be considered a suitable match, and the pair were never wed, and their son was never in line to become tsar of Russia. The boy died at 5-years old in any case, and our guide said there was no further mention of Katharina in historical documents. I wonder if she and Alexander I remained an unwed couple up to or through his officially sanctioned marriage, or if she married a Fin after their son had died.
We walked up a steep, cobblestoned road to the 15th century church. It had not burned because it was built of stone. I enjoyed absorbing the architectural and decorative beauty of the church’s interior.
It was also fun to walk through the medieval town center, taking in the colors and shapes of the buildings, feeling the variation of the cobblestones beneath my feet. The sounds of the modern area did not reach this far. I wondered what it would be like to be one of the residents who lived here, caring for one of the buildings in this Heritage Site.
Beautiful place and photos! It does look like you’ve gone back in time.