The second era of university history covers the period when Finland was the Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, from 1809 to 1917. When Finland became part of the Russian Empire in 1809, Alexander I expanded the university and allocated large sums of money for it. After the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, the country's higher education moved to Helsinki, the new administrative heart of the Grand Duchy, in 1828, and the university was renamed the Emperor Alexander University of Finland in honor of the university's last donor. While in the capital the main goal of the