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Founded: 1380-1450Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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St. Mary Magdalene's Church in Neuenkirchen was first mentioned in 1318. The present church was probably built between 1380 and 1450. After the roof tower was destroyed in the 17th century, it was replaced with a bell tower at the west gable in 1900. Restoration work revealed, under several layers of limestone, foreign paintings that may be of Danish origin. In 1775 St Mary's Church in Bergen donated to the Neuenkirchen church a Renaissance pulpit dating from 1567.
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.