Editing Turku (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Turku}}
Turku has a long history as [[Finland]]'s largest city and occasionally as the administrative center of the country, but for the last two hundred years has been surpassed by [[Helsinki]]. The city's identity stems from its status as the oldest city in Finland<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitfinland.com/W5/index.nsf/(pages)/Destinations |title=Destinations in Finland – Official Travel and Tourism Guide |publisher=Visitfinland.com |access-date=6 May 2009 |archive-date=13 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113125820/http://www.visitfinland.com/w5/index.nsf/(pages)/Destinations |url-status=live }}</ref> and the country's first capital.<ref name="finland-portrait">{{cite web |url=https://www.finlandportrait.com/history-of-finland/ |title=History of Finland |work=Finland Portrait |date=25 March 2023 |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701133443/https://www.finlandportrait.com/history-of-finland/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Originally, the word "Finland" referred only to the area around Turku (hence the title, "[[Finland Proper]]" for the region).

===Early history===

Settlement in the Turku area is relatively recent, as the Southwestern Finland remained below sea level for an extended period due to the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]]. Due to [[tectonic uplift]], the Turku region transformed from an outlying [[archipelago]] to a shoreline during 3000-2000 BCE. The area was densely populated during the [[Iron Age]] as it was the most important agricultural region in the region.<ref name="Lahtinen2015_9">[[#Lahtine2015|Lahtinen (2015)]], pp. 9</ref> Ancient cemeteries dating from 550 to 1150 have been discovered in the region. Some cemeteries were utilized during the initial migratory phase, while some were solely utilized during the Viking Age, and others were established in the 12th century. There are also remains of houses and villages and old forts from the late Iron Age.<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Ella |last1=Kivikoski |first2=C. J. |last2=Cardberg |title=Turun kaupungin historia – Kivikaudesta vuoteen 1366 |year=1971 |location=Turku |publisher=City of Turku |language=fi }}</ref>

According to legend, the English [[Henry (bishop of Finland)|bishop Henry]] baptised the first Finns into Christianity in 1150. However, the first Christian graves date from the 10th and 11th centuries, and the first archaeological evidence of a church dates from the 12th century.<ref name="Lahtinen2015_11">[[#Lahtine2015|Lahtinen (2015)]], pp. 11</ref> In the 11th century, the Turku region began to develop as a port.<ref name="Lahtinen2015_9"/> The oldest known road, [[Hämeen Härkätie|Hämeen härkätie]], connected to region and the [[Old Castle of Lieto]] to [[Tavastia (historical province)|Tavastia]] in the 9th century at the latest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Masonen |first=Jaakko |title=Hämeen Härkätie |publisher=Otava |year=1991 |isbn=951-1-11421-2 |location=Helsinki |pages=186–190 }}</ref> Early literary sources such as [[Tabula Rogeriana|Al-Idrisi's world map from 1154]] mentions Turku.<ref name="earlyhistory">[https://www.turku.fi/ensimmaisena-turussa Suomen historian merkkipaaluja: Ensimmäisenä Turussa] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430072659/https://www.turku.fi/ensimmaisena-turussa |date=30 April 2021 }} (in Finnish)</ref>

===Swedish era===
[[File:Cathedral of Turku 1814.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Turku Cathedral]], 1814, prior to the [[Great Fire of Turku|Great Fire]] in 1827]]
According to the permission granted by [[Pope Gregory IX]] on 23 January 1229,<ref name="earlyhistory"/> the episcopal seat was moved from [[Nousiainen]] to [[Koroinen]], which is located near the current center of Turku.<ref name="turku-790">{{cite web |url=https://yle.fi/a/3-10607853 |title=Suomen vanhin kaupunki täyttää 790 vuotta ja valkoinen risti seisoo Turun syntymämerkkinä Koroisilla – katso video |first=Minna |last=Rosvall |work=[[Yle]] |date=23 January 2019 |access-date=17 August 2024 |language=fi |archive-date=17 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240817080915/https://yle.fi/a/3-10607853 |url-status=live }}</ref> There is nothing to suggest that the actual city of Turku still existed at this point; however, the city was not founded on uninhabited land, but there were fields and probably also a peasant village.<ref>{{cite magazine |first1=Markku |last1=Oinonen |first2=Emmi |last2=Mehtonen |first3=Heidi |last3=Nordqvist |first4=Kari |last4=Uotila |first5=Pentti |last5=Zetterberg |title=Turun kaupungistumisen alkuhetkiä radiohiiliajoituksia bayesilaisella menetelmällä |magazine=SKAS |date=2011 |pages=15–27 |language=fi }}</ref> Since no reliable document has survived about the year of the city's founding, it has also been speculated that the city was founded in the 1280s or 1290s by the joint initiative of the king, the bishop, and the {{ill|Dominican Convent of Saint Olaf|sv|Sankt Olofs dominikankonvent, Åbo}}, which itself was founded in 1249.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hiekkanen |first=Markus |title=Turun kaupungin perustaminen. Tulkintayrityksiä uusien arkeologisten tutkimusten perusteella |magazine=Kaupunkia pintaa syvemmältä. Arkeologisia näkökulmia Turun historiaan |date=2003 |pages=42–52 |location=Turku |publisher=Suomen keskiajan arkeologian seura |isbn=951-9129-57-X |language=fi }}</ref>

[[Turku Cathedral]] was [[consecration|consecrated]] in 1300.<ref name="finland-portrait"/><ref name="Spicer2012">{{cite book |author=Andrew Spicer |title=Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyErqszUsFYC&pg=PA314 |year=2012 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6583-0 |page=314 |access-date=14 November 2015 |archive-date=22 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522130819/https://books.google.com/books?id=GyErqszUsFYC&pg=PA314 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[Middle Ages]], Turku was the seat of the [[Bishop of Turku]] (a title later upgraded to [[Archdiocese of Turku|Archbishop of Turku]]), covering then the eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden (most of the present-day Finland) until the 17th century. Even if Turku had no official capital status, it was for a long time the most important city in Finland as part of the trade and shipping of the [[Hanseatic League]]. In the 14th century, two-thirds of the city's burghers were German, but gradually the proportion of domestic burghers increased.<ref>{{cite web |first=Kirsi |last=Peltonen |title=Turku Hansa-ajalla |url=http://opal.utu.fi/projektit/hansat/VII.htm |publisher=[[University of Turku]] |access-date=17 February 2023 |language=fi |archive-date=24 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824171026/http://opal.utu.fi/projektit/hansat/VII.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition to the ecclesiastical authority, the only [[lawspeaker]]s in Finland operated in Turku, and from the 15th century to the 16th century, the court exercising the country's highest judicial power, the {{ill|Land Court of Turku|sv|Landsrätten i Åbo}}, met in the city.<ref name="kuparinen">{{cite book |first=Eero |last=Kuparinen |title=Turun seitsemän vuosisataa |year=1984 |publisher=Turun historiallinen yhdistys |location=Turku |language=fi }}</ref>

At the beginning of the 16th century, in connection with the disputes of the [[Kalmar Union]], the Danes destroyed the city twice, in 1509 under the leadership of Admiral [[Otte Rud]] and in 1522 under the leadership of Admiral [[Søren Norby]],<ref name="kuparinen"/> until [[Erik Fleming (councilor)|Erik Fleming]]'s troops expelled the Danes from Finland in 1523.<ref>''[[Pieni tietosanakirja]]'', [[Otava (publisher)|Otava]]. (in Finnish)</ref> After the beginning of peace, [[Gustav Vasa]], who had just become king, thoroughly got to know different parts of his kingdom, the center of the king's first visit to Finland being Turku Castle, where he lived during his visit.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kustaan kaksi vierailua Suomeen |url=http://www.turku.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=132789 |publisher=City of Turku |access-date=17 February 2023 |language=fi |archive-date=17 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917222127/http://www.turku.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=132789 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The new king also brought with him the religious [[reformation]], and the first to preach the new doctrine was [[Petrus Särkilahti]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nuorteva |first=Jussi |title=Särkilahti, Petrus |year=2007 |location=Helsinki |publisher=The [[National Biography of Finland]] |language=fi }}</ref> Särkilahti's student [[Mikael Agricola]], who is known as the "father of Finnish literary language", continued the religious reform first as the headmaster of the cathedral school and later as the Bishop of Turku.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heininen |first=Simo |title=Mikael Agricola. Elämä ja teokset |year=2007 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Edita |language=fi }}</ref> Duke John (later [[John III of Sweden|John III]]), the son of Gustav Vasa, received the title of [[Duke of Finland]] and ruled his territory from Turku Castle before becoming next king of Sweden after his brother, [[Eric XIV of Sweden|Eric XIV]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gofinland.fi/en/turku/things-to-see-and-do/turku-castle |title=Turku Castle |website=Gofinland.fi |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217141830/https://www.gofinland.fi/en/turku/things-to-see-and-do/turku-castle |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the aftermath of the [[War against Sigismund]], the city was the site of the [[Åbo Bloodbath]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nenonen |first1=Kaisu-Maija |last2=Teerijoki |first2=Ilkka |year=1998 |title=Historian suursanakirja |publisher=WSOY |isbn=951-0-22044-2 |language=fi }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schoolfield |first=G.C. |chapter=Wecksell, Josef Julius (1838–1907) |editor-last=Hochman |editor-first=Stanley |title=McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama |volume=1 |edition=2 |publisher=VNR |year=1984 |isbn=0-07-079169-4 |page=126 }}</ref> After that, the 17th century began as more peaceful period for Turku, when the focus was mainly on emphasizing Turku's position as the center of a wide area by establishing numerous new administrative and school institutions. In 1640, the first university in Finland, the [[Royal Academy of Turku]], was founded in Turku by order of [[Christina, Queen of Sweden|Queen Christina]].<ref name="finland-portrait"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museo.helsinki.fi/yliopiston_historia/kuninkaallinen_turun_akatemia.htm |title=Kuninkaallinen Turun akatemia |access-date=17 February 2023 |language=fi |archive-date=27 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727052152/http://www.museo.helsinki.fi/yliopiston_historia/kuninkaallinen_turun_akatemia.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> This project was also supported by Count [[Per Brahe the Younger|Per Brahe]], the [[Governor-General in the Swedish Realm|Governor General of Finland]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Per-Greve-Brahe-the-Younger |title=Per, Count Brahe, the Younger |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=20 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320235147/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Per-Greve-Brahe-the-Younger |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Isaacus Rothovius]], the Bishop of Turku.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tarkiainen |first=Kari |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=6962 |title=Isaac Rothovius |work=Swedish biographical dictionary |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217141826/https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=6962 |url-status=live }}</ref> Turku was also the meeting place for the [[States of Finland]] in 1676.

[[File:Turun akatemian vihkiäiset.jpg|thumb|700px|center|''Inauguration of the [[Royal Academy of Turku|Academy of Turku]] in 1640'', by [[Albert Edelfelt]] from 1902]]

===Russian era===
[[File:Robert Wilhelm Ekman - Great Fire of Turku.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Great Fire of Turku]]'', a painting by [[R. W. Ekman]]]]
[[File:Turku 1842 - Henrik Cajander.jpg|thumb|right|A [[daguerreotype]] photograph of the Nobel House, the first photograph taken in Finland, from 1842]]

After the [[Finnish War]], Sweden ceded Finland to [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]] at the [[Treaty of Fredrikshamn]] in 1809. There was no resistance of any kind in Turku when the Russians marched into the city in October 1809 in connection with the Finnish War. Despite the occupation, life in Turku continued peacefully. The Court of Appeal of Turku continued its session when the Russians arrived, and later in the spring [[Jacob Tengström]], the [[List of bishops of Turku|Archbishop of Turku and Finland]], and the teaching staff of the Turku Academy swore an oath of loyalty to their new ruler.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www05.turku.fi/turkuinfo/historia/hist_silmays.html |title=Turku Suomen pääkaupunkina |publisher=City of Turku |date=2005 |access-date=17 February 2023 |language=fi |archive-date=23 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120523222801/http://www05.turku.fi/turkuinfo/historia/hist_silmays.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Turku became briefly the official capital,<ref name="finland-portrait"/> but soon lost the status to Helsinki, as Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] felt that Turku was too far from Russia and too aligned with Sweden to serve as the capital of the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]]. The change officially took place in 1812. The government offices that remained in Turku were finally moved to the new capital after the [[Great Fire of Turku]], which destroyed a large portion of the city in 1827.<ref name="finland-portrait"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Information about Turku |work=InfoFinland |publisher=City of Helsinki |date=5 November 2019 |access-date=20 April 2021 |url=https://www.infofinland.fi/en/turku/information-about-turku |language=en |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307114840/https://www.infofinland.fi/en/turku/information-about-turku |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="turku-liekki"/> After the fire, a new and safer city plan was drawn up by German architect [[Carl Ludvig Engel]], who had also designed the new capital, Helsinki.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Engel, Carl Ludvig (1778–1840) |last=Lilius |first=Henrik |work=Kansallisbiografia |publisher=SKS |date=24 August 2020 |access-date=20 April 2021 |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/3213 |language=fi |archive-date=9 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109153416/https://kansallisbiografia.fi//kansallisbiografia/henkilo/3213 |url-status=live }}</ref> The new city plan, based on a regular [[grid plan]], was more spacious and fire-safe than before,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kallioniemi |first=Jouni |title=Kaikkien aikojen Turku |year=1992 |publisher=Kirjatorni |language=fi }}</ref> and after the reconstruction, Turku was one of the most unified architecture in Europe.<ref name="turku-liekki">{{cite web |url=http://www.turunsanomat.fi/sunnuntai/?ts=1,3:1012:0:0,4:12:0:1:2002-09-01,104:12:120190,1:0:0:0:0:0: |title=Kun Turku hukkui liekkeihin |work=[[Turun Sanomat]] |date=1 September 2002 |access-date=17 February 2023 |language=fi}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Turku remained the largest city in Finland for another twenty years.

In the middle of the 19th century, Turku was, after Helsinki, the most important craft city in Finland, but the [[Industrial Revolution]] with [[Steam engine|steam]] and [[electric machine]]s was experienced in Turku only around 1900. The [[First World War]] provided a boost to the city's industry, as the export difficulties affected the [[wood industry]], which Turku didn't have much of, and it was easy to get much-needed raw materials from neutral Sweden.<ref>{{cite book |first=Eino |last=Jutikkala |title=Turun kaupungin historia 1856–1917 |year=1957 |pages=73–150 |location=Turku |publisher=Turun sanomalehti ja kirjapaino osakeyhtiö |language=fi }}</ref>

===After independence===
[[File:Aurakatu 1910's.jpg|thumb|Aurakatu area in the 1910s]]
In 1918, a new university, the [[Åbo Akademi]] – the only [[Swedish-language]] university in Finland – was founded in Turku.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Åbo Akademi University |url=https://www.abo.fi/en/about-abo-akademi-university/ |access-date=22 August 2020 |website=Åbo Akademi University |language=en-US |archive-date=6 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506140846/https://www.abo.fi/en/about-abo-akademi-university/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Two years later, the [[Finnish-language]] [[University of Turku]] was founded alongside it. These two universities are the second and third to be founded in Finland, both by private donations.

In the 20th century, Turku was called "Finland's gateway to the West" by historians such as {{ill|Jarmo Virmavirta|fi}}.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Antikainen |editor-first1=Anne |editor-last2=Tarja |editor-first2=Pyöriä |title=Kaupunkiseutujen kasvun aika |year=2004 |chapter=Turku – Suomen portti länteen |publisher=Sisäministeriö |isbn=951-734-671-9 |language=fi }}</ref> The city enjoyed good connections with other Western European countries and cities, especially since the 1940s with [[Stockholm]] across the [[Gulf of Bothnia]]. In the 1960s, Turku became the first Western city to sign a [[town twinning|twinning]] agreement with [[Leningrad]] in the [[Soviet Union]], leading to greater inter-cultural exchange and providing a new meaning to the city's 'gateway' function. After the [[fall of communism]] in Russia, many prominent Soviets came to Turku to study Western business practices, among them [[Vladimir Putin]], then Leningrad's deputy mayor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Putin on vanha Turun-kävijä |url=https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/502110 |website=TS.fi |date=25 June 2013 |publisher=Turun Sanomat |access-date=12 April 2022 |language=fi |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412085832/https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/502110 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Market place turku.jpg|thumb|The [[Market Square, Turku|Market Square]] in 1965]]
As for architecture in the city, both the body of architectural styles as well as the prevalent way of living have experienced significant changes in the 20th century. While having survived relatively intact throughout the years of war 1939–1945{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}, the city faced increasing changes in the 1950s and 1960s due to rising demands for apartments, the eagerness to rebuild, and most of all the new development of infrastructure (especially increased automobile traffic). The wooden one- to two-story houses that were the dominant mode of building in the city were mostly demolished in the 1950s and 1960s to both enable more efficient building and to ease vehicle traffic. This resulted in the destruction of buildings that were, in later decades, seen as beautiful and worth saving. Some individual buildings remain controversial to this day when it comes to their demolition in the decades after the war. For example, the building of {{ill|Hotel Phoenix|fi|Hotelli Phoenix}} that stood on corner of the [[Market Square, Turku|Market Square]] was torn down to make way for a large, multistory apartment building in 1959. The building was significant both for its location and history: having stood on one of the most valuable lots in the city center since 1878, the building had, for example, served as the first main building of the University of Turku. Other buildings whose demolition was seen as scandalous, either already at the time of action or proved to be so in later years, include {{ill|The Nobel House|fi|Nobelin talo}} (subject of the very first photograph ever taken in Finland) and the building of [[Hamburger Börs (hotel)|Old Hotel Börs]] which was built in jugendstil in 1909 by {{ill|Frithiof Strandell|fi}}.