HISTORY
According to one theory, the castle is founded by Hermann of Dorpat, Albert of Riga's successor, and Livonian Brothers of the Sword after Livonian Crusade. At that time, the castle's name may have been the castle Ratzeburg (after Bishopric of Ratzeburg).
According to another theory, the castle was founded by Bo Jonsson Grip.
The castle has likely been built in three phases. The first phase was completed sometime between 1373 and 1378. The third phase is estimated to have been completed in the 16th century. Anyway, the first written data about the castle is from 1378.
The castle was initially built on a small island at the north end of a sea bay. However, when the ice retreated from Fennoscandia after the last ice age more than 10,000 years ago, the Earth's crust was depressed half a kilometre due to the weight of the ice, which was 2 kilometres thick. When the ice melted, the crust began to rise. The recovery still continues. Because of that, the castle is nowadays surrounded by dry land.
The primary purpose of the Raseborg castle was to protect Sweden's interests in southern Finland against the Hanseatic city of Tallinn. For centuries, battles were fought between Swedish and Danish forces and even pirates over control of the castle. Eventually, the castle was abandoned in 1553, three years after the city of Helsinki was founded. Helsinki became fastly strategically more important, and interest in Raseborg died out.
CURRENT SITUATION
Restoration work of the castle began already in the 1890s. The latest renovation project took place between the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the castle ruins are open to the public.
Close to the castle ruins is one of Finland's largest open-air theatre stages, the Raseborg Summer Theatre. The theatre was founded in 1966 and gives numerous performances every year in July, often connected to the castle history. The presentations are in Swedish.
