Great Businessmen and Inventors: The Nobel Family

For Browsing

Emmanuel Nobel, inventor of underwater mines. A native of Uppsala, where he received higher education. Worked as an architect in Stockholm. After bankruptcy, he moved in 1832 to the Grand Duchy of Finland. From 1842 to 1859, he lived in Saint Petersburg, where he founded a mechanical factory. During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, he supplied weapons and mines to the Russian army. In 1859, he declared bankruptcy and moved to Sweden. Robert Emmanuelovich Nobel was born in Sweden and came to Saint Petersburg with his mother. From 1850, he worked at his father's factory. In 1859 (or 1861), he went to Finland, then returned to Russia and worked for many years at enterprises he founded together with his brothers. Alfred Bernhard Nobel (October 21, 1833, Stockholm – December 10, 1896, Sanremo, Italy), founder of the Nobel Prizes, son of Emmanuel Nobel. In Russia, he became acquainted with the works of N. N. Zinin and V. F. Petrushevsky on the chemical technology of nitroglycerin and its practical use. In 1863, he established production, and in 1867 obtained a patent in the United Kingdom for explosives collectively called "dynamites." In 1867, he patented the first mercury fulminate detonator cap in the United Kingdom. Organizer and co-owner of dynamite production enterprises, which were united into two trusts and operated in almost all Western European countries. Member of the Royal Society of London and the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Ludwig Nobel, entrepreneur, machine tool designer, member of the Russian Technical Society. Son of Emmanuel Nobel. He transformed the enterprises founded by his father in Saint Petersburg into a large engineering plant "Ludwig Nobel" (later the "Russian Diesel" plant). In 1876, together with his brothers Robert and Alfred, he founded an oil industrial enterprise in Baku (from 1879 — the Nobel Brothers Oil Production Partnership), which became the largest oil company in Russia. Nobel, Emmanuel Ludwigovich, son of Ludwig Nobel, headed the Nobel Brothers Partnership, the "Ludwig Nobel" company, and other enterprises from 1888 to 1917. He played an important role in Russia's entrepreneurial organizations. At the beginning of 1918, he moved to Sweden.

M. A. Gorchakov Mansion - House of the Oil Production Partnership "Brothers Nobel"

Griboedov Canal Embankment, 2 lit. A, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

The famous architect Fyodor Lidval actively collaborated with the Nobel family, designing and remodeling buildings of various purposes at their request. And this collaboration began with the building of the House of the Petroleum Production Partnership "Brothers Nobel."

E. L. Nobel Mansion - M. L. Oleynikova Mansion

Lesnoy Ave., 21-1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194044

The mansion was built between 1902 and 1904 by architect Melzer Robert-Friedrich (Roman Fyodorovich) and military engineer Melzer Ernest Fyodorovich, and was rebuilt in 1910 by architect Lidval Fyodor Ivanovich.

Income House of Emmanuel Ludwigovich Nobel

Bolshoy Sampsoniyevsky Ave., 27, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194044

The Income House of Emmanuel Ludwigovich Nobel is an architectural monument and is part of the Residential Complex for employees of Ludwig Emmanuelovich Nobel's factory. The house was built in 1910–1911. The large gray house in Art Nouveau style closes off the Residential Complex of the "Ludwig Nobel" factory from the side of Lesnoy Avenue.

Residential town of the "Ludwig Nobel" factory

Lesnoy Ave., 20 building 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194044

The famous Nobel Town in Saint Petersburg was built for the workers of the "Ludwig Nobel" factory. Ludwig Nobel was the elder brother of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize. The architects of the town's buildings were R. F. Meltzer, V. A. Shreter, and F. I. Lidval. The years of construction were 1893-1916.

The People's House of Emmanuel Nobel

Lesnoy Ave, 19, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 196642

The People's House or the Hall for Public Readings of Emmanuel Ludwigovich Nobel – a community center of the production-residential complex of the mechanical plant "Ludwig Nobel." This cultural and educational institution for all laborers and intellectual employees of the plant was established on the initiative and with the funds of the industrialist Emmanuel Nobel.

Alakirjola - the Nobel family country estate

GM5X+6R Landyshevka, Leningrad Oblast, Russia

Alakirjola - the Baltic estate of the Nobel family. Settlement. Until 1939, the village of Kirjola was part of the Johannes parish of the Vyborg province (Finland). The village was also called Alakirjola. Its name translates as "Lower Kirjola." Its history dates back to the 15th century. Today, this estate is located within the territory of the modern village of Landyshevka in the Vyborg district.

Nobel Family Mansion and the Management Office of the "Ludwig Nobel" Mechanical Plant

Pirogovskaya Embankment, 19, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194044

The mansion from 1876 in the neoclassical style was built by the Swedish architect Karl Anderson. According to the design, the building was a two-story yellow mansion with red architectural details, modeled after an Italian Renaissance palazzo. The house served as a refuge for the large Nobel family and simultaneously as the office for the factory: the mechanical plant "Ludwig Nobel," which produced cannons and their carriages, underwater mines, and artillery shells. The enterprise utilized the inventions of Alfred Nobel.

The grave of the Nobili family at the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery

4 Dekabristov Lane, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199178

Swedish and Russian engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, elder brother and business partner of the founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel. Merchant of the 1st guild in Saint Petersburg. The first chairman of the Scandinavian charitable society in St. Petersburg. Member of the Russian Technical Society. Buried at the Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery in Saint Petersburg, plot: 56

Monument to Alfred Nobel - Tree of Life

Pinsky Lane, 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197046

The sculptural composition represents a futuristic-fantastic iron tree, whose twisted branches symbolize a peaceful explosion (the invention of dynamite was intended for peaceful purposes – for mining, blasting, and earthworks).

The first house of the Nobel family in Saint Petersburg

20 Petrogradskaya Embankment, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197046

It is believed that Emmanuel Nobel lived in this very house at 20 Petrogradskaya Embankment, near the factory he founded, together with his sons — including the later famous Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize.

Mechanical Plant "Ludwig Nobel" ("Russian Diesel") the core of the Nobel empire in Russia

30 Bolshoy Sampsoniyevsky Ave, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194044

The Ludwig Nobel Mechanical Plant, renamed "Russian Diesel" in 1919, was a machine-building factory in Saint Petersburg that specialized in the production of diesel engines in the 20th century. It was founded by Ludwig Nobel and managed by him, and later by his heirs.

Villa Petrolea - Nobel Brothers House Museum in Baku

9VHV+XGR, Baku, Azerbaijan

Villa Petrolea — a residential settlement built by the Nobel brothers at the end of the 19th century for the employees of their company on the border of the Black City in the suburbs of Baku. The name is also used in relation to the residence of the Nobel brothers located here.

Nobel Brothers Shipyard in Rybinsk

60 Pyatiletki St., Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, 152909

The enterprise was founded by the "Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Partnership" ("Branobel"). To maintain the fleet in good condition, the management of the "Branobel" Partnership decided to build ship repair workshops in Rybinsk. It was here in 1904 that the installation of the first engineering structure in Russia for lifting and launching ships into the water – a slipway – began, and by 1907, a ship was lifted ashore for the first time.

The building of the former office of the Nobel Brothers Partnership in Perm

Sovetskaya St., 26, Perm, Perm Krai, Russia, 614045

The Perm oil storage was one of the largest in Russia. None of the Nobel brothers, famous worldwide, had ever been to Perm.

Nobel Museum in Rybinsk

Volzhskaya Embankment St., 53, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, 152901

The Nobel Museum is a truly unique attraction in Rybinsk. It is hard to imagine that in a provincial town there is a memorial complex dedicated to one of the most famous figures in world science and entrepreneurship — Ludwig Nobel. But it is so. Indeed, since 2003, the city of Rybinsk has had a museum dedicated to the life and work of the world-famous Swedish family. The Nobel brothers deserve it: at the beginning of the 20th century, they made a significant contribution to the development of Rybinsk and the Russian Empire.

Monument to Ludwig Nobel and the Russian Nobel Prize

Bolshaya Kazanskaya St., 44, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, 152901

The first monument in Russia to the industrialist, public figure, and philanthropist Ludwig Nobel was unveiled in Rybinsk on July 26. The monument was created by the Moscow sculptor Yaroslav Borodin. The sculptural composition installed in Rybinsk consists of a bronze bust of Ludwig Nobel on a column and two granite steles resembling the leaves of opening gates, with bronze bas-reliefs of Ludwig Nobel’s main inventions — diesel engines, tankers, and oil rigs. Everyone knows about the prestigious international Nobel Prize, established by Alfred Nobel according to his will. But few know that seven years before that, a Nobel Prize was also established in Russia — the Ludwig Nobel Prize, named after Alfred’s older brother. It was established in St. Petersburg in 1888 after his death by the "Partnership of the Nobel Brothers."

The Nobel Empire in Samara

84 Kuibysheva St., Samara, Samara Oblast, Russia, 443099

130 years ago, on July 13, 1883, Alexander Ivanovich Werner, the trusted representative of the Oil Production Partnership "Brothers Nobel," submitted a petition to the Samara City Administration requesting a site on the banks of the Volga River for the installation of oil tanks. This marked the beginning of the oil company's development of the Samara market.