The Old Academy Building (, ) is a neoclassical building, originally consecrated in 1817 for the

Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country still was a part of Sweden. It was founded in 1640. In 1809, after Finland became a ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is located in Cathedral Square next to

Turku Cathedral Turku Cathedral (, ) is the only medieval basilica in Finland and the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is the central church of the Lutheran Archdiocese of Turku and the seat of the Lutheran Archbishop of Turku, Arch ...

. The building was designed by Swedish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Carl Christoffer Gjörwell. Laying down the foundation stone of the Old Academy Building in 1802 was a milestone where Swedish king

Gustav IV Adolf Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until he was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Finland. The occupation of Finland in 180 ...

and Queen Fredrika Dorotea were present. The Old Academy Building suffered damage due to the

Great Fire of Turku The Great Fire of Turku (; ; ) was a conflagration in the city of Turku in 1827. It is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The city had faced several large fires before, including an especially devast ...

in 1827. After the devastation caused by the fire, the ''Imperial Academy of Turku'', the university at that time, moved to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. However, the building was restored under

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840) was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ce ...

's plans in 1830 and was signed over to the Court of Appeals of Turku, Turku Cathedral chapter and the County Administrative Board. Today, the spaces are used for the Court of Appeal, with the exception of the Ceremonial Hall, which is managed by the

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

where its Faculty of Humanities

graduation ceremony A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called commencement, congregation, convocation or invocation. The date of the graduation ...

take place. The hall is used for the two universities in Turku: the University of Turku and

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

. It seats 350 and is also commonly used for events such as concerts; the acoustics of the hall are superb for choirs and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

.The Old Academy Building

Gallery

File:Academy Turku.jpg, Old Academy Building (19th century). File: TYYn Kuoro @ TOMF 2007.jpg, The Student Union Choir of the University of Turku performing in the Cerermonial Hall.

References

External links

Gamla Akademihuset
(Swedish) {{coord, 60.4517, N, 22.2797, E, source:kolossus-fiwiki, display=title Government buildings completed in 1815 Buildings and structures in Turku Neoclassical architecture in Finland University of Turku