Place · city

Turku

Also known as Åbo

Turku, Swedish Åbo, is a city on the south-west coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura river. Founded in the thirteenth century around its cathedral and castle, it was the chief city of Finland under Swedish rule and the seat of its university from 1640. Russia moved the capital to Helsinki in 1812, and a great fire in 1827 destroyed most of the old town.

Turku
Image: Markus Koljonen (Dilaudid) with thanks to Jontts and Turku Cathedral · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Grand Duchy of FinlandFinnish Socialist Workers' Republic

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Turku. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/turku
MLA
“Turku.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/turku. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Turku.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/turku.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Turku’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/turku (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻