Kajaani Castle Ruins — Attraction in Kajaani sub-region

The Kajaani castle was built on the Ämmäkoski island of the Kajaani river in the centre of Kajaani, Finland, in the 17th century. Today, only roofless ruins remain of the castle. The castle functioned as an administrative centre, a prison, and a military strongpoint. The most famous prisoner in the castle was the historian Johannes Messenius, who was forced to live in the poor conditions of the castle from 1616 to 1635.

Construction of the Kajaani castle began in 1604 and was completed in 1619. At first the castle only consisted of a stone wall, two round towers, and wooden buildings at the yard inside the castle.

Count Peter Brahe ordered a second construction stage of the castle, which was started in the 1650s and completed in 1666. During this construction stage, many wooden structures of the castle were replaced with stone structures to form a fortress.

During the Great Northern War (also known as the "Greater Wrath"), Russian forces sieged the castle for several months, until it was finally forced to surrender because of lack of food, firewood and ammunition. Shortly after this, the Russians exploded the castle and its inhabitants were transported to Russia to be imprisoned. The first wooden bridge on top of the ruins was built in 1845. By 1937 the castle-island became a fundament for a new road-bridge made of concrete.

The bridge called Linnansilta ("castle bridge") was originally the only bridge across the Kajaani river. After the construction of later bridges, the traffic on Linnansilta has reduced and the authorities have drafted plans to take down the bridge and give this national monument a due and proper...

These castle ruins are the northernmost medieval stone castle in the world, with a glorious history as the last castle that refused to surrender to russians during the Great Northern War. In the end, the Russians took control of the castle and blew it up in 1716. The castle island (Linnansaari) has always been an important passageway over the Kajaaninjoki. Unfortunately, a new road bridge was built over it in the 1930s, which naturally destroyed the castle's milieu quite completely. Today, the castle, which once stood mighty in a great location, looks like a sad ruin under...

By far one of the best things to see when visiting Kajaani. These might be the oldest castle ruins in all of Finland. The ruins are a great way to explore the history of Kajaani and Finland. Some info boards in the castle tell you about the wars that the castle was used in 👌 The only bad thing about this place is that there is an actual road that goes directly over the castle. At least I assume that the bridge could have been...