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Founded: 1959Category: Religious sites in Finland
Historical period: Independency (Finland)
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The first church in Kainuu province was built to Manamansalo in 1559. This church was burned by the Karelians and Russians in 1578. The church bell was stolen and carried as a war booty to the Russian monastery in Solovetski, the White Sea.
The memorial church, designed by Tuomas Väyrynen and Eero Huotari, was built in 1959 to the site where the original church have probably been. The memorial is an outdoor church with bell tower, altar and fixed benches.
Close to the church is also an old Christian cemetery, which was used in the late 1500’s.
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.