Mantashev, Alexander Ivanovich

Mantashev was born in Tiflis (modern Tbilisi ) into an Armenian family. He spent most of his childhood in Tabriz , where his father was engaged in the sale of cotton and textiles . Being the only son, Alexander was involved in the commercial affairs of his father from the very beginning.

In 1869, he moved to Manchester , the main center of cotton and textile manufacturing industries, from where he had the opportunity to send goods to his father in Tabriz. Staying in Manchester played an important role in the development of the character of the future tycoon: he not only studied the secrets of the craft of the textile industry, but also became familiar with European business culture. During this period, he learned English, French and German.

In 1872, Mantashev returned to his father in Tiflis, and soon on the first floor of the Kavkaz Hotel on Erivan Square ^[1] they opened their own cotton shop.

After the death of his father in 1887, Alexander acquired the majority of the shares of the Central Commercial Bank of Tiflis, thus becoming its main shareholder and then Chairman of the Bank Commission. The Bank was involved in almost every aspect of trade in the Caucasus. In the early 1890s, Mantashev was already a merchant of the 1st guild and chairman of the Tiflis City Council. It was during this period that he began to show interest in a new business enterprise - the study of the prospects for the development of the Baku oil industry.

Not afraid of risk, Mantashev acquired unprofitable wells. For the refining of oil, the company he created built a kerosene plant and a lubricating oil plant in Baku . And for pumping oil and fuel oil to ships, a marina and an elevator were built. Soon, wells began to generate huge profits. Mantashev acquired two tankers in England, which began to supply oil to India , China , Japan , as well as to the Mediterranean countries. In 1899, the A. Industrial and Commercial Society was founded . I. Mantashev and Co. ” .

Soon, Mantashev acquires the shares of several world oil companies, one of which was the “Nobel Brothers” . His company concentrates more than 50 percent of the total oil reserves and more than 66 percent of the oil reserves of the Caspian Sea .

It was during this period that a funny story happened with Mantashev. On the way from Vienna to Paris, Mantashev’s neighbor turned out to be a very silent man in the compartment. Mantashev, who liked to communicate, could not manage to start a conversation with his fellow traveler. Only when it came to the Baku oil industry did the taciturn satellite revive. After asking something about oil production, he mentioned that the only person in Baku that he had heard of was Alexander Mantashev. Smiling, Mantashev introduced himself. They met and the "silent" again fell silent. Shaking hands in Paris , they parted. A few days later, Mantashev was invited to a social event. The invitation was signed by the famous millionaire - Baron Rothschild , who unobtrusively made it clear that he was the very silent companion of Mantashev in the train.

In 1907, the 835-kilometer Baku-Batumi oil pipeline was built, which was funded by Alexander Mantashev. From 1899 to 1909, his company by the volume of fixed capital (22 million rubles) became the largest in the history of Russian industry. Thanks to this, the businessman began to be called the "oil king."

Mantashev was a famous philanthropist, he donated a lot for the construction and improvement of Armenian churches, including in Tiflis and Echmiadzin , educational institutions (in particular, the Armenian Nersisyan seminary in Tiflis), and awarded scholarships to talented Armenian students for studying abroad.

Mantashev was a big fan of the theater. In Tiflis, with its financial assistance, the building of the Pitoyevsky Theater was built (today - the Georgian State Academic Theater named after Shota Rustaveli ). In the Paris Academic National de Musique he had his own bed. He dreamed of building a similar theater in Yerevan, but did not manage to do this.

Mantashev was a modest man; he did not like to advertise his wealth. He wore no gold, and his only adornment was a living flower in the breast pocket of his jacket. He did not have his own crew, walked or rode a tram.

Each time, passing by the Tiflis real school , he seemed to accidentally come up to students who were very poor, leaned over and asked: “How is the health of the father? Be sure to say hello to him. ” And at that moment, unnoticed by others, he dropped a five-ruble gold coin into his student’s pocket.

Four sons inherited his fortune, the most famous of which was Levon Mantashev , also a successful entrepreneur who managed to increase his father’s property.

Levon was a dregs and a rake, moreover, a man quite extravagant and, according to many accounts, very roguish. He was fond of racing horses and playing card games, built the stables of Mantashev still standing in Moscow, and in one night he won cards at the merchant Ryabushinsky his famous villa "Black Swan". It is interesting that on the facade of both buildings located close to each other, in the area of Leningradsky Prospekt , you can still see the monogram "LM" - Levon Mantashev.

After the Bolshevik coup, the Baku oil fields were nationalized. Leon darted between white, red, Dashnaks, English, French. He participated in various political projects, tried to sell his enterprises to foreign companies, continued this business already in exile, although it was clear to everyone that he was selling air. Aleksey Tolstoy knew him quite closely, who colorfully described a friend in the novel “Emigrants”: “An oil tycoon, a waster of millions who stuck to him without any effort, it seemed from his side, a man with unexpected fantasies, a horse man, a tall handsome man. He occupied apartments in one of the most expensive hotels - “Carlton” on the Champs Elysees, and only this circumstance still supported his credit in small accounting offices, restaurants, and tailors. But the circle of creditors was inexorably contracting, strangling him with nightmares. ”

Of the other sons, Hovsep (Joseph) Mantashev returned from exile to Armenia, where he changed his name a little (Mantashyan) and did not advertise his origin.

Alexander Mantashev died on April 19, 1911 in St. Petersburg. He was buried next to his wife in the tomb of the Vanki Cathedral in Tiflis (Tbilisi), the main church of which was restored at the time on his donations.

• In 1908, Alexander Mantashev, together with Stepan Lianozov, created the Biofilm film company in Moscow and began construction of his film factory. Having no practical experience in the cinema, for double-triple bets Mantashev lured specialists, the best directors and actors to himself, thereby collecting the color of the then cinema at his film factories. He immediately started filming multi-part fighters, trying to capture the film market with his box-office tapes, displacing old film companies.
• At the beginning of the 20th century, Mantashev, along with his main rivals, the Lazarevs, were the largest figures in Russian racing. At that time, the world- famous jockey Winkfield - the so-called “Black Maestro” rode on Mantashev’s horses.
• It was at the enterprises of Mantashev that Iosif Dzhugashvili, the future Stalin, organized strikes and practiced revolutionary activity.
• Alexander Mantashev’s appeal to Armenian entrepreneurs is known, which says: “Armenian merchants! Long-suffering Armenia is the refuge of your glory, your immortality. This is the house of God, where the good memory of you in all its splendor will be preserved before God and humanity. In other museums, contempt and oblivion await you ... "
• A. Mantashev was buried in the tomb of the Vanki Cathedral in Tiflis, which was destroyed in 1938 by order of L. Beria (and not at all in Iran’s Isfahan , as is sometimes mistakenly pointed out). To justify the demolition of the magnificent temple, “voluntary” demands of the Armenians were gathered. According to local legend, the rector of the cathedral refused to sign them (“I didn’t build, I don’t destroy ...”) and was shot. The graves of A. Mantashev and his wife disappeared without a trace.

In Tbilisi, a monument was erected to A. Mantashev near the church of Nor Etchmiadzin ( d.18 on Armazskaya Street ) ^[2]

Mantashev’s house in the Sololaki district of Tbilisi is proposed to be occupied by the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Georgia or the Center for Armenian-Georgian Cultural and Economic Relations ^[3]

• Alexander Mantashev, biography
• Biography (inaccessible link)
• Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich. Mantashiada