In around the mid-15th century a nobleman by the name of Jeppe Kurck set up home in the village of Laukko, on the border between the two ancient provinces of Satakunta and Häme. The close alliance of a noble family and a mighty estate that would last four centuries was about to begin.

 

The most famous of the medieval lords of Laukko was Klaus Kurki, the tragic hero of a ballad called “The Death of Elina”. In real life Klaus’s son Arvid became the last Bishop of Catholic Finland. At around the beginning of the 16th century the Kurcks had a stone castle built at Laukko as a symbol of their might and prosperity.

 

The Laukko estate was at its biggest in the early 17th century, when its master was Jöns Kurck, Councillor of the Realm. Gabriel Kurck, following in his father’s footsteps, led a European Baroque life at Laukko, complete with chefs and butlers.

 

The joint story of the Kurcks and Laukko ended in 1817, when Claes Kurck sold the family estate, on Finland that had now passed from Swedish to Russian rule, to Johan Agapetus Törngren.