Turku Concert Hall

Kun ystävyyssuhteet solmitaan (Finnish) or När vänskapsbanden knytes (Swedish, "When Friendships are Made") is a sculpture erected by Wäinö Aaltonen, located in the Puutori market square in Turku, Finland. It symbolises the twin town partnership of Turku and Gothenburg. There are two sculptures, the original in Gothenburg and its duplicate at Aninkaistenkatu 12 in Turku. The City of Turku commissioned Aaltonen to make the sculpture for Gothenburg as a thank you for aiding Turku during wartime. The statues were ready in 1948 and their unveiling was in 1955, first in Gothenburg on 8 may and then in Turku on 21 May. Commercial counsellor Leo Wainstein donated the duplicate, that is located in Turku, to the city. Kun ystävyyssuhteet solmitaan is made of bronze and stands 2.95m high. The base of the sculpture is red granite and stands 1.7m high. The sculpture depicts a man and a woman, both on horseback, meeting each other, symbolising the friendship between the two cities.

The VI District is the northernmost of the central districts of Turku, Finland. It is located on the west side of the river Aura, to the east of Aurakatu. It forms part of the city's central business district, hosting a large proportion of the city's business life, particularly around the central Market Square (Kauppatori). The city's main bus station and the head library are also located in this district. The Finnish national road 1 begins in the VI District. The district is the fifth largest in the city, having a population of 6,187 (as of 2004) and an annual population growth rate of -0.15%. 5.11% of the district's population are under 15 years old, while 22.64% are over 65. The district's linguistic makeup is 87.23% Finnish, 10.00% Swedish, and 2.77% other.

The WaterLoo Pub, previously known as "Puutorin Vessa", is an English pub in the City of Turku, Finland. The circular building sits on the Puutori square, and it once served as a public restroom, hence the pun.

Puutori (Swedish: Trätorget, lit. 'timber market square') is a market square in the city centre of Turku, Finland. It measures at approximately 100 by 40 metres (330 ft × 130 ft). It is bordered by Aninkaistenkatu/Aningaisgatan, Maariankatu/Mariegatan, Brahenkatu/Brahegatan and Sibeliuksenkatu/Sibeliusgatan. Today, it has no regular market square activity but Puutorin puolesta ry organises different events there each year. Located at one end of the square are Ystävyydenpuisto ("friendship park") and Wäinö Aaltonen's statue Kun ystävyyssuhteet solmitaan, which was designed in 1955 in honour of the friendship between Turku and Göteborg. There are also small cafés and shops surrounding Puutori, as well as a pet store.

Turku Synagogue (Finnish: Turun synagoga, Swedish: Åbo synagoga) in the city of Turku is one of the two synagogues in Finland. Located in the VII District, the synagogue is used by the Jewish community of Turku. The synagogue building, designed by architects August Krook and J.E. Hindersson, was completed in 1912.

Turku and Pori Province (Finnish: Turun ja Porin lääni, Swedish: Åbo och Björneborgs län, Russian: Або-Бьёрнеборгская губерния) was a province of independent Finland from 1917 to 1997. The province was however founded as a county in 1634 when today's Finland was an integrated part of Sweden. It is named after the cities of Turku (Swedish: Åbo) and Pori (Swedish: Björneborg). Åland was split into a separate province in 1918. In 1997 Turku and Pori Province was merged with the northern part of the Häme Province, the provinces of Vaasa and Central Finland into the new Western Finland Province.

Turku City Library (Finnish: Turun kaupunginkirjasto, Swedish: Åbo stadsbibliotek) is a municipal public library in Turku. The Main Library is located in the VI District at the city centre. The Turku City Library also operates several branch libraries and two mobile libraries. It is part of the Vaski library network, which is a consolidation of 18 public libraries in the Finland Proper region.The library traces its roots to the 1860s, when a privately funded people's library and an academic oriented city library were established in Turku. The municipality of Turku soon took over operating both libraries, and in 1912 they were merged to form the Turku City Library.The Turku City Library has a regional development responsibility in the regions of Finland Proper and Satakunta. The libraries with regional development responsibility are tasked with developing the working environment of the area's public libraries and updating the staff's skills and knowledge.

Hamburger Börs was an Art Nouveau hotel building in Turku, Finland, next to the Market Square built in 1909. It was designed by Frithiof Strandell as an expansion to a hotel located on Kauppiaskatu. The building had 30 hotel rooms. The inner yard hosted the Metropol film theatre, which had been built into a brick warehouse according to Strandell's plans. The theatre later functioned with the names Lyyra V and Rialto up to the 1960s.Oy Centrum Ab sold the property to the Turku cooperative in 1942, and the cooperative planned how to make better use of the lot. The planning of the renovation started in the 1970s. Both the Finnish Museum Board and the Turku museum board wanted to protect the building. Plans for dismantling the building were published in 1976 and this drew media attention all around the country. There were differing opinions about the need to protect the building, and the intendant of the Turku Museum of Art Erik Bergh said that the building did not fit into its surroundings at all and could be dismantled.The Turku city council accepted the dismantling plan. The Finnish People's Democratic League, the museum board, the Arts foundation for the Province of Turku and Pori and the milieu political Enemmistö ry opposed the dismantling. The Finnish state rejected the complaints about the dismantling in December 1976 and dismantling could being. Although the protection of Port Arthur had awoken citizen activism, it was Hamburger Börs that made citizens of Turku demonstrate against dismantling for the first time. Dismantling began despite of the protests, and the new hotel building was built in 1979.The old hotel building with 14 rooms on Kauppiaskatu was spared and was reinforced in 2003. At the same time, elements in Strandell's original plans were restored to its facade and the coat of arms of Hamburg which had been on its wall since 1894 was restored. This building had originally been a two-floor stone house built in the 1830s, which had had an extra floor built and had been renovated to the Art Nouveau style from 1903 to 1904 according to Strandell's plans. The glass paintings of the building were designed by the German Willy Baer.

Aurora Society was a secret society and a national Finnish literary society at the Royal Academy of Turku from 1770 to 1779. The Society consisted of many prominent members of the Finnish cultural sphere and had as its focal points poetry, Finnish history, geography and the research of language and economy.The Society published Finland's first newspaper, Åbo Tidningar (Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo), between the years 1771 to 1778, and 1782 to 1785. Furthermore, the first public orchestra concerts in Finland were also organized by the Aurora Society. The society was a typical product of the Enlightenment period: a secret society on one hand and a cultural and educational organization on the other. [1]

Turku Main Library (Finnish: Turun kaupunginkirjaston pääkirjasto, Swedish: Åbo huvudbibliotek) is the chief branch of Turku City Library, located in the city centre of Turku, Finland. The library is approximately 8,500 m².

The Åbo Bloodbath (Swedish: Åbo blodbad; Finnish: Turun verilöyly) of 10 November 1599 was a public execution in the town of Turku (Åbo), Finland, then part of the Kingdom of Sweden, in the context of the war against Sigismund. Sweden was by then in the final phase of a civil war, with one faction supporting King Sigismund III Vasa, who also was King and Grand Duke of Poland–Lithuania, and another faction supporting Duke Charles of Södermanland, the later Charles IX, Sigismund's paternal uncle. After winning the upper hand in the dispute, Charles crushed the last resistance to his rule, particularly in Finland, while Sigismund had already retreated to Poland. The forces opposing Charles in Finland were led by Arvid Stålarm and Axel Kurck (Kurk), who both became Charles's prisoners after the surrender of Åbo castle and further strongholds. Together with other prisoners, including two sons of Finland's previous commander, Clas (Klaus) Fleming, they were tried by a jury speedily assembled from Charles' followers, and sentenced to death. Fleming's sons and twelve others were then beheaded in Åbo's Town Hall Square, while Stålarm and Kurck were sent to Linköping where they were tried and condemned again along with other captured opposition leaders. However, Stålarm and Kurck also survived the subsequent Linköping Bloodbath.

The siege of Åbo (1563) was a siege of Åbo by the royal army under Eric XIV against his brother, John III, in 1563.