Pyhäniemi Manor, Hollola, Finland

Pyhäniemi is one of the most culturally significant manor milieus in Finland. The history of Pyhäniemi manor dates back to the year 1467. During the 16th and 17th centuries it became a very remarkable horse farm. In 1780 Gustav III, the king of Sweden, ordered to construct a new main building and donated Pyhäniemi to his general Carl Johan Schmiedefelt. The end of the 19th century was the heyday of Pyhäniemi Manor. The householder Oscar Collin owned 10000 hectacres farm and 250 cows. The manor had also a sawmill and a wheelworks. In 1912 Collin lost the Pyhäniemi Manor in a gamble to Dutchman Hendrik Max Gilse van der Pals in Monte Carlo Casino. The manor of was the residence of Van der Pals until 1919.

In 1930s Pyhäniemi was a site for filming for the Suomi-Filmi studios and it was called as the "Hollywood in Hollola". During the Winter War (1939-1940) Pyhäniemi manor was used as the base of Finland Air Force operating from the lake nearby.

The two-storey main building is from the 1820s and its present appearance dates from renovation carried out in 1907. The large auxiliary building flanking the yard was built in the 1880s. The manor is surrounded by a park and a tree-lined lane leads to the main building. Today the manor offers art exhibitions, high-class concerts and conference services.

Abbey of Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).

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