Kultaranta

Kultaranta (Swedish: Gullranda; lit. 'Golden Shore') is the summer residence of the president of Finland. It is in the district of Kultaranta on the island of Luonnonmaa, in the municipality of Naantali in Southwest Finland. The granite manor house is surrounded by 56 hectares (140 acres) of park belonging to the property. The complex also includes numerous outbuildings and greenhouses, and a park.

The ground floor contains the reception rooms and private apartments. Upstairs are the bedrooms and guestrooms. Marble steps lead from the ground floor to the tower, from which there are views of Naantali and the inshore islands.

The parks around the manor, containing approximately a thousand square metres of greenhouse and a garden with 3,500 roses called Medaljonki ('medallion'), are open to the public. The scent and colour of these roses are at their peak in the middle of the summer, when the President and family and their guests come to Naantali for the holidays. Tours in the garden are organised by the City of Naantali's tourist service.

Kultaranta's Park has been described as a "mini-Versailles". The parkland to the north of Kultaranta is in practically a natural state, though a few sandy pathways have been built there, and the woodland is kept in good condition.

Kultaranta has about 1,000 square metres (10,764 sq ft) of greenhouses. The garden supplies the President's household with both flowers and vegetables all year round.

Kultaranta's original owner was the businessman Alfred Kordelin, who had a manor house built for himself in 1914. It was designed by the architect Lars Sonck. When Kordelin died in 1917 the manor's ownership shifted to the University of Turku and, in 1922, the Finnish Parliament voted to acquire it for use as the president's summer residence.

Text adapted from “Kultaranta” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Kultaranta ranks #1,040 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #8 of the 21 mapped in Finland. Founded 1914 — one of 177 atlas entries founded in the 20th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 7,984 times in the last 60 days, more than 90% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Finland compares in the castle statistics.

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