The Bishop’s Brick House

Remains of Medieval Buildings on the River Bank of Koroinen, Finland

Authors

  • Tanja Ratilainen Department of Archaeology, University of Turku
  • Visa Immonen Cultural Heritage Studies, University of Helsinki
  • Kirsi Salonen Department of European and World history, University of Turku
  • Janne Harjula Department of Archaeology, University of Turku

Abstract

The article re-examines the remains of medieval buildings located on the river bank at the Cape of Koroinen in Turku, where the episcopal see of Finland was located in the 13th century. We take a new look at the structures with a special focus on the use of brick. It seems that a stone keep with a brick floor and a small brick house with grand brick decorations as well as a large wooden house with a heat-storage hypocaust were constructed before 1429. The stone keep and the wooden house with a hypocaust appear to date from the 13th to early 14th century. Another large wooden building preceding the keep may be one of the bishop’s first buildings, or it might even be older than that. The masonry buildings suffered from tilting, which may be the reason they were not repaired after a possible fire.

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Published

2017-12-19

Issue

Vol. 22 (2016)

Section

Articles