The lost medieval stone mansion of the bishops of Turku was found

In the excavations, a ruin interpreted as a possible stone house found in the 1970s surveys in the area of ​​the Korointe estate was investigated.

In the investigations, the ruins of a large stone house, possibly a brick building, were found.

The full extent of the building has yet to be ascertained, but it was at least 10 meters wide and a large complex comprising several floors.

“You’re not used to seeing the remains of a stone house like this outside the medieval city area of ​​Turku,” says the university lecturer in archeology Janne Harjula In the announcement of the University of Turku.

Construction is probably heated by a tiled stove, a sign of a wealthy owner. In addition to the large size, the decorative details made of limestone and shaped brick also refer to the prestigious building, the release states.

Wealthy residents are also told by a fragment of a Bohemian glass vessel, a banded red goblet, dating to the second half of the 14th century or the beginning of the 15th century.

Based on the research, it initially seems that it is a bishop’s stone mansion abandoned after the Reformation, the ruins of which were used as a romantic summer house as late as the middle of the 17th century.

“Based on the findings, the building was in use from the 15th century to the first half of the 17th century. There were signs of a fire in the building, but the reason for its disuse is probably subsidence caused by the soil,” says the professor of archeology Georg Haggren in the bulletin.

According to the release, the bishop’s mansion, which has since disappeared and been forgotten, was used in the Middle Ages by at least the bishops of the end of the 15th century Konrad Bitz and Maunu Särkilahti.

Down the university’s press release states that Finland’s first church center was founded in Turku’s Koroistenniemi. In the 13th century, a bishop’s church and a residence were located there. At the beginning of the 14th century, the episcopal seat was moved to the newly founded city of Turku.

The ecclesiastical center of Niemenkärje was deserted at the beginning of the 15th century at the latest, but in the 16th century there was still a bishop’s estate outside it and a rented plantation belonging to the church. The Koroinen estate remained in the ownership of the church until the 1980s, when it was transferred to the ownership of the city of Turku.

of bishops the lost manor was found when the archeology department of the University of Turku and Svenska folkskolans vänner rf organized a medieval archaeological excavation course at the beginning of June at the Korointe estate.

The research results obtained now exceeded expectations in every way, says the researcher who led the excavations in the press release Tanja Ratilainen.

The excavation areas have been filled and restored after the investigations.

The research will be continued with the medieval archeology fieldwork courses organized in 2027 and 2028, when the goal is to find out the entire extent of the stone building and to specify its timing and use.