Kristinestad

Kristinestad ( Swedish), Finnish Kristiinankaupunki, is a city in the western Finnish landscape Ostrobothnia. It is located halfway around 100 per km between Vaasa and Pori in the archipelago of the Gulf of Bothnia. 57% of 7064 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) are Finland Sweden, 42 % speak Finnish as their native language. Officially, the city is bilingual.

History

Kristinestad was founded in 1649 by the Swedish governor-general in Finland, Count Per Brahe the Younger, on the previously belonging to the parish Lappfjärd island Koppö. On March 1, 1651 Brahe decreed that the name of the city of Koppö to Kristinestad ( Christinae Stadh ) was changed. Queen Christina of Sweden is considered to be patron saint, but is thought that Brahe would rely mainly his 1650 late wife, Countess Kristina Katarina Stenbock, a monument.

Kristinestad developed first hesitant, but after the port was 1792 batch rights, they quickly grew up to be a prosperous city, of which representative buildings such as the Town Hall Built in 1856 and around 3,000 wooden residential and warehouses downtown testify.

Attractions

In addition to Rauma and Porvoo Kristinestad is one of the largest and best preserved wooden towns in Finland.

The single Ulrike Eleonora Church was completed in 1700 and is with its leaning church tower one of the landmarks of the city. The services of the two Protestant churches - as the Finnish- Swedish-speaking - take place, however usually in the 1897 -built new town church, a 1,000- people -making -nave brick building.

By far the largest church in the city but is in the 1973 eingemeindeten place Lappfjärd (Finnish Lapväärti ). Constructed in 1852, this cruciform church with free-standing bell tower can accommodate 3,000 worshipers, the length of the benches should be a total of 1.6 km.

Ulrika Eleonora Church

Street of old town