"I will bring wealth to my Fatherland, I will keep a name for myself": the great Russian entrepreneurs and patrons of the arts Stroganovs

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Stroganovs are one of the most famous names in Russia. The salt dynasty, exceptional in scale of activity and unheard of wealth, did not leave the political and economic arena of Russia for five centuries. Its representatives were exploring new territories in the Urals, using their own money to organize the famous campaign of the conqueror of Siberia Ermak, helped the militia of Minin and Pozharsky, Peter I in his war with the Swedes, and were also famous patrons of art. The world owes even the appearance of beef stroganoff - one of the most popular dishes of Russian cuisine - to the Stroganovs.

Stroganov Anika Fyodorovich

It was Anika Stroganov who laid the foundations of the business and the enormous wealth of this family at the beginning of the 16th century. Having inherited the estate and several salt breweries in Solvychegodsk (now it is the Arkhangelsk region), Anika, continuing the family business, began to engage in salt production, which was a very difficult matter. At first, brine was pumped from the wells, like oil, from which salt was then obtained by evaporation in huge frying pans, which was very expensive in those days.

The young salt-maker Anika turned out to be a very successful entrepreneur, and things were going well for him. His new salt enterprises were opened not only in Solvychegodsk, but also in other more remote areas, and brought in a good income. But Anika was not going to stop there.

Development of the Middle Kama region

Having learned that the Permian land is rich in salt deposits, Anika Stroganov sent one of his sons with a petition to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich to ask for a part of the land in the Cis-Urals so that “to set up brews and cook salt”. Anika offered not only to equip these lands, to develop salt deposits there, but also to defend the eastern borders on their own, which at that time was very restless.

Periodic raids on these territories from the adjacent militant Siberian Khanate greatly annoyed the tsar. Having made sure that the Stroganovs were asking for truly deserted lands, Ivan the Terrible in 1558 signed a letter of credence, which he granted the Stroganov family wild forest estates on both sides of the Kama.

Having moved to the Urals, the Stroganovs very quickly attracted people here and began to look for salt brines, set brews.

They settled down thoroughly, establishing farms similar to those of Solvychegodsk, only larger ones. Having cleared previously uninhabited places from forests, they plowed up the land, built cities and fortresses.

Really rich deposits were discovered here, on the development of which and the trade of the extracted salt by the Stroganovs, and enormous wealth was acquired. Anika Stroganov became the richest industrialist in Russia, even richer than the tsar. The Stroganovs, gaining more and more powers, created their own practically independent state.

Ermak and the Stroganovs - the annexation of Siberia

At the end of his life, Anika Stroganov retired, leaving a huge inheritance to his sons, took tonsure and went to a monastery.

The sons Grigory and Yakov successfully continued his work, but at this time Kuchum came to power in the Siberian Khanate, dreaming of seizing the eastern Russian lands, and the situation on the border worsened - the Stroganovs had to repel the constant raids of the Siberians.

Ivan the Terrible, having granted them new vast lands, started talking about the seizure of the Siberian kingdom. Grigory and Yakov began to prepare for the upcoming campaign, stocking up the necessary weapons and equipment, but soon both died. Then their children got down to business. There were sorely lack of people for the upcoming campaign, but they found a way out.

In those days, the Cossacks were operating on the Volga under the leadership of the dashing Ermak. It was to them that Nikita and Maxim sent the letter: “… We have fortresses and lands, but few squads; come to us to defend Great Perm and the eastern edge of Christianity. Soon a detachment of Ataman Yermak in the amount of 500 people arrived, and combined with a fairly significant army of the Stroganovs, fully equipped with everything necessary, set out on a campaign against Khan Kuchum. A huge amount of money was spent on his equipment, and there was no state support at all.

As a result, the army of Khan Kuchum was defeated, the Siberian Khanate fell. And the huge merit in this is not only Ermak, who is considered to be the conqueror of Siberia, but, of course, the Stroganovs.

Aristocrats and patrons of the Stroganovs

At the end of the 17th century, the only owner of all the wealth accumulated by the Stroganovs was Grigory Dmitrievich Stroganov, who turned out to be the only heir and immediately turned into the largest industrialist and richest man in Russia. It was then that the saying was in use:

He provided generous support to Peter I in all his endeavors, it was especially valuable during the Northern War, for which later the grateful Peter granted his sons the baronial title, "for the merits of their ancestors."

In St. Petersburg, at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika River embankment, there is a famous building - the Stroganov Palace.

It was built in 1754 by the famous architect F. B. Rastrelli on the initiative of Grigory Dmitrievich's two sons - Nikolai and Sergei. This magnificent building, which became one of the best possessions of the Stroganovs, from 1754 to 1918 belonged to the famous family, its first owner was Sergei Grigorievich.

The Barons Stroganovs, like their ancestors, continued to engage in patronage, patronizing talents and glorifying their family. One of their descendants, Alexander Sergeevich, was an honorary member of the Academy of Arts. After becoming its president, Alexander Stroganov supported young talented artists by paying for their studies abroad.

He was also the director of the Public Library, the author of the project of which he himself was. Under his supervision and with his significant financial support, the Kazan Cathedral was built, the architect of which was Andrei Voronikhin, who at one time it was Stroganov who paid for his education and helped to become public.

Another Stroganov, Sergei Grigorievich, was the trustee and managed of Moscow University, finding and encouraging talented teachers during this period, many of whom later glorified Russian science.

In addition, being well versed in painting, he created the first Russian school of drawing, from which the Stroganov School subsequently grew, and now it is the Moscow State Academy of Art and Industry named after V. I. S. G. Stroganov.

Anyone who is interested in Russian history will certainly be interested in the story about how the fate of the widow and children of the famous industrialist and philanthropist Savva Morozov developed.