Finnish House of Nobility

Georg Theodor Chiewitz, a Swedish-born architect who had settled in Finland after financial difficulties at home, designed the House of Nobility in a neo-Gothic style, with pointed arches and an assembly hall lined with the painted coats of arms of more than 300 noble families. Completed in 1862, in time for the Diet of the four estates convened the following year, it has served as the seat and meeting hall of the Finnish nobility ever since. Chiewitz died in December 1862, shortly after the building's completion, and it stands today as one of his best-known works alongside the Swedish Theatre and Pori's central church.