Wealth and lust for money have never been in the first place in Russian culture, but super-rich people were at the same time. We remember the most-most.
1. Anika Stroganov (1488-1570)
Anika Stroganov was the most influential Russian businessman during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. He controlled northern trade with England, mastered the land, traded furs, developed the salt industry, and was one of the organizers of the Ermak expedition.
2. Akinfiy Demidov (1678-1745)
Akinfiy Demidov was the most successful industrialist of his time, philanthropist, founder of the mining industry in the Urals and Siberia. By the end of his life, Akinfiy Nikitich had 25 factories, which employed 23,755 male souls (an average of 1,000 people per factory). The Nizhniy Tagil plant, the main brainchild of Demidov, is still operating today.
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3. Savva Yakovlev (1712-1784)
Savva Yakovlev, nee Sobakin, was the son of a bourgeoisie, but achieved nobility through his activities. He started by selling veal near the Summer Garden, where he was noticed by Elizaveta Petrovna. As a result, he became a supplier to the court, and the empress's benevolence opened the way for him to enter the business. Already under Catherine, from 1766 to 1779, Yakovlev buys 16 and builds 6 factories in the Urals. His enrichment in terms of rates and methods had no analogues in Russian history.
4. Grigory Potemkin (1739-1791)
Grigory Potemkin was not just a favorite of Catherine II, but also her secret husband. At the same time, Potemkin cannot be called a gigolo. He successfully commanded the Russian army during the war with Turkey in 1787-1791, carried out the annexation to Russia and the development of the Crimea, founded several cities there and actually created the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Empress granted Potemkin colossal land holdings in Novorossiya, which made him the richest man in Russia.
5. Grigory Orlov (1737-1808)
A participant in the coup d'etat to overthrow Peter III, Grigory Orlov, immediately after the accession of Empress Catherine II, received a generous reward - rich estates, money, count's title. He was called the first of Catherine's "eagles", but by 1771 he had ceased to be the first. In the same year, he was sent to Moscow, engulfed in a plague and riot, and did a good job of organizing measures to resolve the situation.
6. Vasily Perlov (1784 - 1869)
Pearls are the "tea kings" of Russia. The most successful of them, Vasily, managed to conquer not only the Russian tea market, but also to conquer Europe. He was one of the first who began to pack varietal tea, and deliver it from China by land, which is why the quality of the product has always been at its best.
In 1860, Vasily Alekseevich opened a company under his own name - the Tea Trade Partnership “Vasily Perlov with his sons”. The firm opened tea shops of the trading house in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Warsaw.
7. Samuil Polyakov (1837-1888)
An industrialist and philanthropist, Polyakov made his fortune during the distribution of railway concessions. According to Sergei Witte, Samuil Solomonovich Polyakov was "the most famous of the railroad aces." He actively built railways, opened schools and donated generously to the development of education. The fortune of the Polyakov brothers in 1913 was estimated at 49.5 million gold rubles ($ 544 million at the rate of 2000).
8. Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1889)
Pavel Tretyakov, a philanthropist, entrepreneur and art collector, made his dream come true - he compiled a collection of works by the Russian school, so that "the acquired from society would also return to society (people) in … useful institutions." His art gallery, open to all citizens "without distinction of gender and rank", has become one of the largest museums in Europe. Tretyakov's fortune at the time of his death was estimated at 3.8 million rubles.
9. Lion Knop (1821-1894)
In XIX century Russia there was a saying "Where there is a church, there is a priest, where a factory is, there is Knop." It did not appear out of nowhere - the founder of the trading house “L. Knop”was a shareholder of more than 100 enterprises. The "Cotton King", as Knop the Lion was called, according to his contemporaries, achieved great success in part "due to his stomach and ability to drink, while maintaining complete clarity of the head." Knop's fortune in 1913 was estimated at 15-120 million rubles ($ 187 million at the rate of 2000).
10. Peter Smirnov (1831-1898)
Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov, who founded his distillery in 1862, was the real "vodka king" of Russia. The tax that went to the treasury from his enterprise was equal to half of the pre-war budget of the Russian army. The cost of the products manufactured during the year reached 17-20 million rubles. The fortune of the vodka tycoon himself was estimated at 8.7 million rubles ($ 95.7 million at the rate of 2000).
11. Kozma Soldatenkov (1818-1901)
Old Believer, manufacturer and entrepreneur Kozma Soldatenkov was one of the brightest and most extraordinary people of his time. For his rich and generous patronage of the arts, he received the nickname "Cosma de Medici". His fortune in 1901 was 8 million rubles ($ 88 at the 2000 exchange rate).
12. Gavrila Solodovnikov (1826-1901)
A Moscow merchant and homeowner, owner of the Passage supermarket on Kuznetsky Most, Gavrila Gavrilovich Solodovnikov gave more than 95% of his multimillion-dollar inheritance to public needs. Not knowing how to write properly, he generously donated to art. At the laying ceremony of the Moscow Conservatory, shouting "Let there be music!" Solodovnikov threw 200 silver rubles into the concrete. His fortune in 1901 was estimated at 21 million rubles ($ 231 million at the 2000 exchange rate).
13. Alexey Alchevsky (1835-1901)
For 40 years of work, Aleksey Kirillovich Alchevsky created the largest mining enterprises in the Donbass and several banks, for example, one of the first in the country, the Mutual Credit Society, and in 1871 - the first Russian joint-stock mortgage bank. In the crisis of 1901, having received a loan from the government, Alchevsky threw himself under a train (according to one version, he was killed). His fortune at that time was estimated at 12-30 million rubles ($ 187 million at the 2000 exchange rate).
14. Savva Morozov (1862-1905)
Savva Morozov was called the "merchant voivode", but he became famous thanks to his patronage activities. Morozov built theaters, supported artists, writers, students and workers. He donated about half a million rubles to the Moscow Art Theater alone. Savva Morozov died on May 26, 1905. According to the official version, the cause of death is suicide: Morozov committed suicide with a shot in the chest. The fortune of the Morozov dynasty in 1914 was estimated at 40 million rubles ($ 440 million at the rate of 2000).
15. Horace Gunzburg (1833-1909)
Thanks to connections with the largest financiers in Europe (the Gunzburgs became related to the Rothschilds themselves), their bank by 1860 became one of the largest in Russia. Its head Horace Gunzburg invested in insurance, gold mines, railways, shipping companies, and sugar factories. After 1892, Horace Gunzburg became involved in gold mining. He headed and then established control over the richest Lensk gold mining partnership. The state of the Gunzburgs in 1914 was estimated at 25 million rubles ($ 275 million at the rate of 2000).
16. Alexander Mantashev (1842-1911)
Tiflis Armenian Alexander Mantashev was one of the "oil kings" of the Transcaucasus, a major shareholder in leading oil companies. In 1897-1909, he financed the construction of the world's longest 835-kilometer oil pipeline Baku-Batum. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Mantshev's fortune was estimated at 10 million rubles ($ 110 million at the rate of 2000).
17. Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov (1837-1916)
Personal friend of Alexander III, founder of the secret monarchist organization "Sacred Druzhina", war hero, Adjutant General Vorontsov-Dashkov was one of the largest Russian landowners (about 485,000 acres of land) and a successful industrialist. Among other things, he was engaged in oil. His fortune at the beginning of the twentieth century was estimated at 15 million rubles ($ 165 million at the rate of 2000).
18. Semyon Abamalek-Lazarev (1857-1916)
A prince, industrialist, archaeologist, large landowner, mining owner, Semyon Abamalek-Lazarev was a very versatile person, and one of the richest people in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. He owned several villas in Italy and a mansion in St. Petersburg. The fortune of the tycoon in 1914 was estimated at 50 million rubles (550 million at the rate of 2000).
19. Savva Mamontov (1841-1918)
The story of Savva Mamontov is significant, lofty and tragic. The heir to a large fortune, Savva Mamontov was little interested in entrepreneurship - he was more attracted to art. After failures in running the "railway business" Savva Mamontov ended up in the Taganskaya prison. His property was almost completely sold out. The ill-fated railway went into state ownership for next to nothing; some of the shares went to other entrepreneurs, including the relatives of Sergei Witte.
20. Nikolay Vtorov (1866-1918)
The fortune of Nikolai Vtorov from Irkutsk in 1914 was 60 million rubles ($ 650 million at the rate of 2000). He was called "Siberian American" and "Russian Morgan". He bought banks and built factories. He founded the first factories of chemical dyes in Russia, the Elektrostal plant, the Moscow partnership of the AMO automobile plant (together with the Ryabushinsky, now ZIL). During the war, Vtorov's factories worked for the defense industry. In May 1918, Nikolai Vtorov was killed under unclear circumstances. The residence of the American ambassador ("Spaso House") was made in his Moscow mansion.
21. Pavel Ryabushinsky (1871-1924)
A representative of the famous Ryabushinsky dynasty, Pavel Pavlovich was engaged in entrepreneurship and banking, built factories and actively participated in the political life of Russia. In 1920 he emigrated to France. In 1914, the Ryabushinskys' fortune was estimated at 25-35 million rubles ($ 330 million at the rate of 2000).
22. Nikolay Balashov (1840-1931)
By the beginning of the 20th century, Ober Jägermeister and Member of the State Council Nikolai Petrovich Balashov with his sons Peter and Igor possessed one of the country's largest land properties - 526,000 acres of land. They could live comfortably without doing anything, but they still had dozens of businesses across the country. Their fortune at the beginning of the twentieth century was estimated at 15 million rubles ($ 165 million at the rate of 2000).
23. Boris Kamenka (1855-1942)
Banker Boris Kamenka since 1910 headed the Azov-Don Bank, which, under him, became the fourth in the rating of commercial banks of the Russian Empire. Kamenka also actively participated in the activities of the Jewish Colonization Society, created to organize the resettlement of Jews to America. In 1914, the banker's fortune was estimated at 40 million rubles ($ 440 million at the rate of 2000).
24. Stepan Lianozov (1872-1949)
The Armenian Stepan Lianozov was a Russian industrialist, philanthropist and politician, as well as the largest oil magnate in Russia in the 20th century. In 1912, Stepan Lianozov established in London the Russian General Oil Corporation (Russian General Oil Corporation, abbreviated as Oil) with a fixed capital of 2.5 million pounds. Thanks to Lianozov's actions, the oil sector of Baku has become attractive to foreigners. In 1915, the tycoon's fortune was estimated at 10 million rubles ($ 110 million at the rate of 2000).
25. Felix Yusupov (1887-1967)
Felix Yusupov was one of the richest people in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1900, the value of the Yusupovs' estates, dachas and houses was 21.7 million rubles, the anthracite mine - 970,000 rubles, the sugar factory - 1.6 million rubles, the cardboard and paper factories - 986 thousand rubles. By 1914, the Yusupovs had 3.2 million rubles worth of securities. However, Felix Yusupov remained in history not as a rich man, but as the murderer of Rasputin.
