Turku Castle rents halls for dinners, receptions, seminars and weddings, from a vaulted cellar for 30 to the King's Hall for 250. The castle stands at the mouth of the Aura River in Turku, on Finland's southwest coast, and is run as a museum by the city. Halls are booked through the Turku Museum Centre, and food and drink come from Sunborn Events, the castle's restaurant operator.
Seminars and company events
The Bryggman Hall is the room for lectures and seminars. It seats 120 for a talk and 80 at banquet tables, and it has step-free access. The party floor of the main castle holds the King's Hall, the Queen's Hall, the Queen's Chamber and the Southern Hall, which suit company dinners, anniversaries and receptions. Sunborn Events handles corporate meetings and events at the castle, from planning to the end of the evening, and caters for events of up to 1,500 guests across its venues. Groups can open with drinks in one of the two courtyards before moving indoors, and the castle's museum can be part of the program.
Weddings and receptions
The castle church seats 240 and is used for weddings and concerts. The wedding party can then move to one of the halls on the party floor, or to the Lords' Cellar for a small group. The courtyard of the main castle suits a toast after the ceremony, and it has a step-free entrance through the West Tower.
Rooms and capacities
The King's Hall, the largest hall on the party floor, takes up to 250 guests. The Queen's Hall, bright with large windows, takes 180. The Southern Hall takes 100, and the Queen's Chamber takes 50 for smaller receptions. The Bryggman Hall seats 120 for lectures or 80 for dinner. The Lords' Cellar (Herrainkellari), a medieval vaulted cellar, takes 30. The castle church takes 240. Two outdoor spaces, the courtyard of the main castle and the cobbled courtyard of the outer bailey, are used for receptions and larger gatherings; the museum gives no capacity for them.
Catering
All catering at the castle is handled by Sunborn Events, which also runs Juhana Herttuan kellari, the castle café and restaurant serving weekday lunch and, from autumn to spring, weekend brunch. Corporate and private clients have separate contacts at Sunborn, while the halls themselves are booked with the museum.
History and setting
The castle was founded around 1280 as a fortress at the river mouth and grew over the following centuries into a large stone stronghold, now Finland's largest surviving medieval building. Its Renaissance outer bailey and state rooms date from the 1550s and 1560s, when Duke John, later King John III of Sweden, held court here with Catherine Jagiellon. Damaged by fire in 1941, it was restored after the war under architect Erik Bryggman, whose name the seminar hall carries.
Getting there
The castle is at Linnankatu 80, next to the Port of Turku and its ferry terminals for Stockholm and the Åland Islands. Turku Harbour station is a few minutes' walk away, and the central station is about 3 kilometers east, a short bus ride. Turku Airport is about 20 minutes by car.
