Aurora Karamzin (Eva Aurora Charlotta Stjernvall) (b. Pori, Finland, 1800 – d. 1902, Helsinki, Finland) was a Finnish influential social figure, a philanthropist and the founder of the Deaconess Institute. She had aristocratic family connections both in Finland and Russia, and benefited from connections with the Imperial family. Aurora Karamzin was appointed as a lady-in-waiting to the Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna and when summoned, moved to Saint Petersburg. The period lasted under a year and afterwards in 1836 she married an Imperial Master of the Hunt, Paul Demidov. Through Demidov, Aurora was introduced to philanthropy. After Demidov’s death from poor health, she remarried to Captain Andrei Karamzin. During the famine years, Aurora’s manor, Träskända in Espoo, served as a reception centre with resting and sick rooms. In Helsinki, with Aurora’s funding, the Women’s Society ran the ‘Soup-Kitchen Institute’, workshops and creches for women and orphanages with schools. Aurora established the Helsinki Deaconess Institute which opened in 1867. In Helsinki she helped women who wished to study and also established a maids’ home for country girls who came to Helsinki to work as servants.
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