THE EVENT PLAY

The Medieval Turku aims to transport visitors deep into the Middle Ages. Each year, a new immersive and captivating play is written especially for the event, bringing medieval townspeople to the Market Square, restaurant Teini’s courtyard (Creta’s Tavern), and the Brinkkala courtyard (Klemettilä, i.e., Burgher Klemet’s inner yard). In 2025, the play is titled Speculum urbis, written by Petra Lähde. It is co-directed by Aliisa Kallio and Petra Lähde.

In the 2025 event, we step into the year of our Lord 1472, when Turku was the administrative center of the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The city had a bishop’s seat and a cathedral, and a few thousand people lived there. Trade took place in many languages, and education was provided on the straw beds of the cathedral school. Near the city also stood the Turku Castle, already part of the Baltic Sea fortress chain and of strategic importance to Sweden, where even top officials of the realm would sometimes visit, alongside prominent Finnish leaders and dignitaries.

Speculum urbis is Latin and means “the mirror of the city.” The play reflects medieval life and attitudes — and at times turns things playfully upside down in a carnivalesque fashion. The name is rooted in the medieval concept of comedy as a “mirror of life” (speculum vitae), where the viewer not only experiences a story but gains insight into themselves and their own life.

The cast of Speculum urbis includes 56 actors who bring to the square characters from all walks of society. In Klemettilä, we glimpse the lives of the burghers; at Creta’s Tavern, we meet around noble drinks and great emotions; and on the market square, the people sing, rejoice, get shocked — and are healed.