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See and experience, guided tour, sight, Sights
The beautiful garden, restored to its original appearance, is one of Naantali’s main attractions, delighting visitors with its flowers, fountains and pavilions year after year. The 100-year history of the Kultaranta garden is fascinating, not to mention the history of the garden’s hosts and hostsesses in Naantali’s summer residence.
The Kultaranta Garden’s 16-hectare park can be called a Finnish version of Versailles park. The landscaped garden is adorned with several flower gardens, pergolas, gazebos, fountains and “diplomatic pathways” lined with spruce fences.
Kultaranta Garden is one of the most significant garden attractions in Naantali and the whole of Finland.
The impressive granite villa of Kultaranta was completed a year before Finland declared independence, in 1916, as a summer villa by Alfred Kordelin, a merchant and agricultural adviser. Architect Lars Sonck designed a 19-room granite villa, the construction of which began in 1914. Alfred Kordelin had time to spend only a few summers in Kultaranta before his tragic death, and after a while the residence passed to the Finnish state.
Today, the handsome Kultaranta villa on the shores of the Naantalinlahti bay is probably Finland’s most famous summer residence, as it has been the official summer residence of Finnish presidents since 1922. Thus, Naantali is rightly called the holiday capital of Finland.