Located near the Turku city centre, Port Arthur is probably the most well known part of Turku. Its intact wooden house district was built mostly during the first decade of the 20th century. The area received its exotic name from an East Asian port city. As the old story goes, while the city was being built, Russia had just lost the namesake city to Japan. A worker was heard to have said that he was building "the new Port Arthur". The name stuck.
Today Portsa has around a thousand homes. It was voted the Borough of the Year in 2001, when the Finnish Local Heritage Federation began awarding that particular distinction. In 2009 the National Board of Antiquities included the wooden house districts of Port Arthur and Michael's Church as two of Finland's most important Built Heritage sites.
Port Arthur
Located near the Turku city centre, Port Arthur is probably the most well known part of Turku. Its intact wooden house district was built mostly during the first decade of the 20th century. The area received its exotic name from an East Asian port city. As the old story goes, while the city was being built, Russia had just lost the namesake city to Japan. A worker was heard to have said that he was building "the new Port Arthur". The name stuck.
Today Portsa has around a thousand homes. It was voted the Borough of the Year in 2001, when the Finnish Local Heritage Federation began awarding that particular distinction. In 2009 the National Board of Antiquities included the wooden house districts of Port Arthur and Michael's Church as two of Finland's most important Built Heritage sites.