Kastelholm

Kastelholm in the parish of Sund is Åland's medieval centre of power, a castle built by the Swedish crown on a rock above a sheltered inlet. It is the most visited sight on the islands outside Mariehamn, restored in parts and left as a ruin in others, with the royal apartments and the prison towers open to walk through. Beside it, Jan Karlsgården gathers old farmhouses, windmills and a maypole into an open-air museum. The Vita Björn prison museum shows cells from two centuries. Sund Church nearby is one of the medieval stone churches the islands are known for.