Château de Châteaudun was built between the 12th and 16th centuries. The Count of Blois Thibaut V had the keep built around 1170. The Sainte-Chapelle was built between 1451 and 1493. The choir and the high chapel were built between 1451 and 1454, with the nave and the oratory between 1460 and 1464. Jehan de Dunois, the bâtard d'Orléans (Bastard of Orléans), built the west wing (the "aile Dunois") between 1459 and 1468. The bell tower was erected in 1493.
François I of Orléans-Longueville began construction of the north wing between 1469 and 1491. The upper floors were added by François II d'Orléans-Longueville and his descendants during the first quarter of the 16th century.
Today the castle includes a keep, a chapel (Sainte-Chapelle), the Dunois wing and the Longueville wing. Château de Châteaudun overlooks the Loir river. Perched on a limestone outcrop, it shows its origins as a 12th century fortress. Converted during the Renaissance into a comfortable residence, the main body of the building is roofed in the gothic style. It still has, notably, a finely carved staircase from this period. Renovated since the 1930s, the castle has been classed as a historic monument since 1918.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.