Ruins and abandoned places in Finland

What was left

A ruin tells two stories: why something was built, and why it was abandoned. Finland has fewer ruins than central Europe, because building was done in wood, and wood disappears without a trace. Churches, castles, mines and factories were built in stone – and it's exactly their ruins that remain. This map brings them together: from medieval church walls to a fell hotel burned in the war.

Medieval churches

In the 1400s and 1500s, dozens of grey-stone churches were built in Finland. Some were left unfinished when the Reformation cut off funding, others were abandoned when parishes merged or a new church was built in a better spot. Roofs collapsed and timber elements rotted, but the metre-thick walls remained. The church of St Lawrence in Kärkölä is unusually octagonal. The Holy Trinity church in Rauma burned in 1640 and was left a ruin in the middle of today's World Heritage town. St Bridget's church in Vihti was abandoned in the 1700s.

Castles and fortifications

Junkarsborg in Raasepori was a 14th-century castle that now sits on an island, because a canal was cut across the headland. The castle ruins at Haapaniemi in Salo are the remains of a medieval manor castle. The First World War's Viapori land front stretches across dozens of sites in the rock of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa: gun emplacements, tunnels and concrete machine-gun nests that were never used.

Industry and tourism

At Orijärvi in Salo stand the ruins of the concentrator plant of Finland's oldest copper mine (1757). Saarijärvi has the ruins of a tar works, Lempäälä those of a sawmill. In the Lapland War of 1944, retreating German forces burned almost everything – the first hotel on Pallastunturi fell (1938) and the tourist lodge on Pyhäkero are among what was lost, and their foundations still lie on the fell.

One ruin was built as a ruin. In the early 1900s, "medieval" ruins were built in stone in Aulanko park in Hämeenlinna, because the romantic scenery called for them.

Before you go

• Ruins classified as ancient monuments are protected by law: no climbing the walls, no moving stones. Newer ruins can be at risk of collapse.
• Some lie on private land or within a private yard. Respect boundaries; photographing from the road is fine.
• The tunnels and caves of the Viapori land front have shafts and standing water. Bring a light, don't go alone.
• Church ruins are often on cemetery grounds and still used for summer services. Check the site page for events.