Details
Founded: 1860'sCategory: Palaces, manors and town halls in Estonia
Historical period: Part of the Russian Empire (Estonia)
User Reviews
The estate belonged to Pirita (St. Brigitta) Nunnery in medieval times. It was elaborated in the 1860s while in possession of Carl Timoleon von Neff. The two-storey Neo-Renaissance castle was projected by von Neff himself - an artist of the Russian Czarist court and also a portrait painter known all over the world. The inner marble staircase is a present from Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The building now houses a school.
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.