The oldest building in the Bauska Old Town is the Lutheran Church of Holy Spirit built for German congregation. It was built in 1591-1594, at the beginning without the tower, but with nice facade plastering decorated by ornamental lines. Tower was additionally built in the west end only in 1614 but in 1623 it obtained a nice conclusion with a dome and a steeple. In 1813 the steeple of the tower had to be dismantled because it had been damaged by the stroke of lightning.
During all its long life Bauska Church of Holy Spirit has been keeping evidences about the history of the Town and the Town inhabitants and gathered a collection of excellent art monuments - devotions and remembrance signs.Church altar was made in 1699 but the present appearance it has obtained in 1861 after the reconstruction what was carried out by the famous Jelgava Artist J. Derings. Pulpit (in 1762) and organ prospect (in 1766) to the Church was presented by the Senator of Russia N.fon Korfs.Congregation benches were made in the middle of the 17th century and in the beginning of the 18th century. In one end of the benches there is to be seen a colourful wood-carving - the oldest depiction of Bauska Coat of Arms (1640) with a gold lion in a red shield.In the altar part there are placed three pompous private benches of Baroque and Rococo style. By the walls of the Church there are arranged in lines nine tomb plaques of 16-17 centuries, among them also unique monuments of memorial sculpture.Epitaph at the Southern wall of the Church was put up in memory of the Fogt of Bauska Court J.Henning in 1677. It was painted by Bauska artist D.fon Ceics who has also held respectable positions himself - he was an Elterman, and the Court Fogt and even the Burgomaster. At the opposite wall just recently there was returned the epitaph for other Burgomaster of Bauska - K.J.Reimerss (1757).
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.