On December 12 (by the Julian calendar), emperor Alexander I celebrated his 25th birthday. To mark it, he gave himself a truly royal present – he signed the Charter of the Imperial University of Dörpt: “We hereby establish a university for our empire, and in particular, for the Livonian, Estonian and Courland governorates; and as we find it extremely pleasant to see the prosperity of this temple of sciences, we thereby take this university under our auspices and protection. The establishment has its primary mission in spreading human knowledge across our nation as well as educating the youth to serve the country.” Yet the beautiful wording was not quite precise: as early as in 1632, Academia Gustaviana was opened in Dörpt. It was the second university in the Kingdom of Sweeden (after Upsala). During the Great Northern War Dörpt was conquered by Russia and became a town in the Livonian governorate. However, it still had a university – in 1802, it was Dörpt University, then it was called Yuriev University, currently it is Tartu University that has served the Russian science for many years and is serving Estonian science now.
