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 famous Swedish family known worldwide. 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.
In 1879, Ludwig, Alfred, and Robert founded the "Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Partnership." As part of their project, they opened oil loading bases in cities along the Volga region. From here, combustible materials were sent to dozens of settlements across the country. In 1912, the scale of their production allowed them to create the first oil refinery. At that time, it was the only one in Russia.
A similar oil loading base appeared in Rybinsk during the time of Ludwig’s son, Emmanuel. The Rybinsk branch was headed by the company employee Nikolai Ivanovich Velichko. He arranged huge warehouses in the city for storing oil, gasoline, and kerosene. The enterprise’s turnover amounted to hundreds of thousands of poods. But the "Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Partnership" did not stop there. In 1908, a shipbuilding plant called the Dry Dock SLIP was built in Rybinsk. It mainly repaired vessels transporting oil cargoes. Local people were employed as workers.
The Nobel Museum, dedicated to the Swedish entrepreneurs, was opened in 2004. There is only one similar museum in the world. Other similar museums are dedicated specifically to Alfred Nobel. One of them is located in the entrepreneurs’ homeland, Sweden. But the memorial museum of the "Russian Nobels" — Ludwig, Robert, and Emmanuel — exists only in the Yaroslavl region, in Rybinsk.
The Rybinsk institution was initially housed in the building of the former Partnership’s office. Its walls once silently observed the brothers’ work and heard the sounds of their voices. The office still preserves several items used by the entrepreneurs. Among them are an authentic safe and a writing desk. The collections also include other valuable exhibits.
The most interesting exhibits of the museum are "Sweden and Russia," "The Nobel Family and Their Work," "The Nobel Movement," and others. It is very fascinating to see samples of products made from oil at the beginning of the last century, models of Nobel towns, as well as money, shares, and bills of that time, etc.
Sources:
https://www.yarcom.ru/sights/rybinsk/place/48
https://rg.ru/2023/07/07/nobelev-kovcheg.html
