Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev
Encyclopedia
Hajji
Zeynalabdin Taghi oglu Taghiyev (25 January 1821–1823, or 1838, Baku
– 1 September 1924, near Baku
) was an Azeri
national industrial magnate and philanthropist
.
. After his mother's death and his father's second marriage, he started learning masonry to help provide for his family. His dedication to work ensured quick professional advancement and at 18, he was already a contractor. By mid 1873 along with two companions, he purchased land near the oil-booming town of Bibi-Heybat, a few kilometres to the southeast of Baku. The intention was to discover oil, however all their attempts were in vain. After a while, Taghiyev's companions sold their share to him and returned to Baku. It was not long until oil gushed forth from one of the wells in 1877 leading to Taghiyev's instantly becoming one of the richest men in the Russian Empire
.
. He arranged for the construction of a mosque and evening self-education courses for the employees of the textile factory, a school for their children, a pharmacy, a first-aid post and a mill. Altogether his project cost Taghiyev more than 6 million golden roubles. He sold his oil business interest to Anglo-Russian Oil Company for 5 million rubles. In two and a half years, they had earned more than 7.5 million rubles in net profit. It should be mentioned that Taghiyev sold his oil companies in order to diversify into other industries of the Caucasus
's economy. He amassed shares in the Oleum Company established on the basis of these enterprises to the amount of 16 million rubles. This allowed him to continue accumulating capital created in the oil sector. During this period, Taghiyev invested significant sums into the textile, food, construction and shipbuilding industries, as well as in fishery. Later, in 1890, Taghiyev bought the Caspian Steamship Company, renovated it and created a fleet of 10 steamboats.
Taghiyev owned real estate in Baku, Moscow
, Tehran
, Isfahan, Anzali
, and Rasht
.
Despite the decades of anti-bourgeois Soviet propaganda that followed his lifetime, Taghiyev is revered by Azeris for his charity work. He sponsored the construction of the first Azeri national theatre in 1883 (known as Taghiyev's Theatre, and later the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy) and helped to repair it after reactionists burned it down in 1909. In 1911, he covered all the expenses for the construction of what would later become the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre
.
Taghiyev provided 184,000 roubles to build the first secular Muslim school for girls
in the Middle East
in 1898–1900. He personally obtained the permission to build the school in his correspondence with Empress Alexandra. He also sponsored the construction of a school of agriculture in Mardakan in 1894 and the first technical school in the Baku Governorate
in 1911. Taghiyev helped to maintain many city institutions and contributed to the adornment of Baku, including laying out of parks and paving the streets. For this, he provided a 35-year loan of 750,000 roubles to the City Council in 1895. Together with five other businessmen, he financially assisted in establishing the horse tramway in Baku, which started functioning in 1892.
He helped to solve the water crisis
in the city by helping to finance the Shollar water pipeline, which channeled water 100 miles away in the Caucasus Mountains
, near Quba
, via a ceramic pipeline. Taghiyev allocated 25,000 roubles to have the project completed. The construction of the water pipeline was finished by 1916. In 1886 Taghiyev sponsored the establishment of a fire department in Baku.
He provided scholarships for many Azeri youths who strived for higher education in prestigiuous Russian and European universities. Some of them, such as writer Mammed Said Ordubadi
, politicians Nariman Narimanov
and Aziz Aliyev
, professor Khudadat bey Malik-Aslanov
, and opera singer Shovkat Mammadova
, later rose to prominence. Though illiterate himself, Taghiyev was a proponent of academic enlightenment for the young generations of Azeris. While the clergy created obstacles for the publishing of secularism-oriented literature such as that by Seyid Azim Shirvani
, Taghiyev would assist in getting it printed in his private publishing house in Tehran
.
As a devout Muslim, Taghiyev was in favour of translating the Koran into Azeri. This was vehemently opposed by the local clergy who believed the content of Koran was holy and of divine origin and therefore, no one had the right to translate it. Taghiyev then sent a mullah
envoy to Baghdad
who came back with an official permission from a board of Muslim scholars to translate the Koran. Taghiyev ordered the necessary equipment from Leipzig
and sponsored the translation and the publishing.
Taghiyev also allocated 11,000 roubles for the construction of the head office for the Muslim Benevolent Society in Saint Petersburg
; 3,000 roubles for the education of Armenian
orphans; 5,000 for the St. Nina's School for Girls in Baku; 10,000 roubles for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
in Baku; tens of thousands of roubles for the construction and repair of mosques and madrasas throughout Russia and Persia., etc.
For his outstanding contributions, Taghiyev was twice-awarded with the Order of Saint Stanislaus
, as well as with a number of other orders and medals from both Russia and abroad.
Taghiyev was married twice. His first wife Zeynab, who was also his cousin, bore him three children. After her death, Taghiyev married Sona, the youngest daughter of General Balakishi Arablinski
. The wedding took place in 1896. Arablinski's elder daughter Nurjahan had already been married to Taghiyev's older son Ismayil.
Taghiyev sent his daughters Leyla and Sara to study at the prestigious Smolny
Institute for Noble Maidens
in Saint Petersburg
, from where his second wife Sona had once graduated.
in 1920 the country's wealthy suffered severe repressions from the Bolshevik
government resulting in the émigration of many of them. Taghiyev's house and his other possessions were therefore confiscated. Due to his past contributions and generosity, he was given an option of choosing a place of residence for himself. Taghiyev chose to stay in his summer cottage in the village of Mardakan, not far from Baku. He died there four years later, on 1 September 1924 of pneumonia
. After his death, the summer cottage was confiscated and Taghiyev's family members were driven out of it. His wife Sona, once a wealthy, educated and charitable noblewoman of the Caucasus
, died in misery on the streets of Baku in 1938.
The Azerbaijan State Museum of History
is located in the former Taghiyev mansion in Baku.
Hajji
Hajji or El-Hajj, is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, and is often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel. The title is placed before a person's name...
Zeynalabdin Taghi oglu Taghiyev (25 January 1821–1823, or 1838, Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
– 1 September 1924, near Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
) was an Azeri
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
national industrial magnate and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
Early life
Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (Taghioff) was born into the poor family of a shoemaker Taghi and his wife Anakhanim in the old part of BakuInner City (Baku)
Old City or Inner City is the historical core of Baku. In December 2000, the Old City of Baku, including the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and Maiden Tower, became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO....
. After his mother's death and his father's second marriage, he started learning masonry to help provide for his family. His dedication to work ensured quick professional advancement and at 18, he was already a contractor. By mid 1873 along with two companions, he purchased land near the oil-booming town of Bibi-Heybat, a few kilometres to the southeast of Baku. The intention was to discover oil, however all their attempts were in vain. After a while, Taghiyev's companions sold their share to him and returned to Baku. It was not long until oil gushed forth from one of the wells in 1877 leading to Taghiyev's instantly becoming one of the richest men in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
Contributions to economy
Taghiyev invested his fortune not only in oil business, but also in many other projects such as a textile factory (one of the 28 textile factories functioning in Russia at the time) and industrial fisheries along the shore of the Caspian SeaCaspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
. He arranged for the construction of a mosque and evening self-education courses for the employees of the textile factory, a school for their children, a pharmacy, a first-aid post and a mill. Altogether his project cost Taghiyev more than 6 million golden roubles. He sold his oil business interest to Anglo-Russian Oil Company for 5 million rubles. In two and a half years, they had earned more than 7.5 million rubles in net profit. It should be mentioned that Taghiyev sold his oil companies in order to diversify into other industries of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
's economy. He amassed shares in the Oleum Company established on the basis of these enterprises to the amount of 16 million rubles. This allowed him to continue accumulating capital created in the oil sector. During this period, Taghiyev invested significant sums into the textile, food, construction and shipbuilding industries, as well as in fishery. Later, in 1890, Taghiyev bought the Caspian Steamship Company, renovated it and created a fleet of 10 steamboats.
Taghiyev owned real estate in Baku, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Isfahan, Anzali
Bandar-e Anzali
Bandar-e Anzali , also Romanized as Bandar-e Pahlavī, Bandar Pahlavi, and Bandar Pahlevi, or simply as Pahlavī, Pahlevī, and Pehlevi; earlier, Enceli and Enzeli) is a city in and the capital of Bandar-e Anzali County, Gilan Province, Iran...
, and Rasht
Rasht
Rasht is a city in and the capital of Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 551,161, in 159,983 families.Rasht is the largest city on Iran's Caspian Sea coast. It is a major trade center between Caucasia, Russia and Iran using the port of Bandar-e Anzali...
.
Philanthropic work
Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre
The Akhundov Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater is a theatre in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was built in 1911.-History:...
.
Taghiyev provided 184,000 roubles to build the first secular Muslim school for girls
Baku Muslim Girls School
The Empress Alexandra Russian Muslim School for Girls of Baku was the first secular school for Muslim girls in the Russian Empire...
in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
in 1898–1900. He personally obtained the permission to build the school in his correspondence with Empress Alexandra. He also sponsored the construction of a school of agriculture in Mardakan in 1894 and the first technical school in the Baku Governorate
Baku Governorate
Baku Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Baku. Area : 34,4000 sq. verstas, population : 789,659. The only foreign border of the governorate was Persia, in the south...
in 1911. Taghiyev helped to maintain many city institutions and contributed to the adornment of Baku, including laying out of parks and paving the streets. For this, he provided a 35-year loan of 750,000 roubles to the City Council in 1895. Together with five other businessmen, he financially assisted in establishing the horse tramway in Baku, which started functioning in 1892.
He helped to solve the water crisis
Water crisis
Water crisis is a general term used to describe a situation where the available water within a region is less than the region's demand. The term has been used to describe the availability of potable water in a variety of regions by the United Nations and other world organizations...
in the city by helping to finance the Shollar water pipeline, which channeled water 100 miles away in the Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
, near Quba
Quba
Quba is a rayon in northeastern Azerbaijan. The capital is located on the Kudyal River at 41.37°N, 48.50°E....
, via a ceramic pipeline. Taghiyev allocated 25,000 roubles to have the project completed. The construction of the water pipeline was finished by 1916. In 1886 Taghiyev sponsored the establishment of a fire department in Baku.
He provided scholarships for many Azeri youths who strived for higher education in prestigiuous Russian and European universities. Some of them, such as writer Mammed Said Ordubadi
Mammed Said Ordubadi
Mammad Said Ordubadi was Azerbaijani writer, poet, playwright and journalist.He was initially educated at religious school, medrese, and later studied at Mahammad Sidgi's secular school "Əxtər"...
, politicians Nariman Narimanov
Nariman Narimanov
Narimanov Nariman Karbalayi Najaf oglu was an Azerbaijani revolutionary, writer, publicist, politician and statesman. In 1920, Narimanov headed the Soviet government of Azerbaijan, the Provisional Military-Revolutionary Committee , replacing Mirza Davud Huseynov, then he was the Chairman of the...
and Aziz Aliyev
Aziz Aliyev
Dr. Aziz Mammad Karim oglu Aliyev , Ph.D., was an Azerbaijani, Dagestani and Soviet politician, scientist, and member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR...
, professor Khudadat bey Malik-Aslanov
Khudadat bey Malik-Aslanov
Khudadat bey Aghabey oglu Malik-Aslanov was an Azerbaijani politician and university professor.-Early life:...
, and opera singer Shovkat Mammadova
Shovkat Mammadova
Shovkat Hasan qizi Mammadova was an Azerbaijani opera singer and music instructor.-Early life and musical career:...
, later rose to prominence. Though illiterate himself, Taghiyev was a proponent of academic enlightenment for the young generations of Azeris. While the clergy created obstacles for the publishing of secularism-oriented literature such as that by Seyid Azim Shirvani
Seyid Azim Shirvani
Seyid Azim Shirvani was an Azerbaijani poet. He was born in 1835 in Shamakhi. He got his elementary education in his native city, but soon was sent to Baghdad and then to Egypt to receive religious education. After returning to Shamakhi, Shirvani started paying attention to secular sciences and...
, Taghiyev would assist in getting it printed in his private publishing house in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
As a devout Muslim, Taghiyev was in favour of translating the Koran into Azeri. This was vehemently opposed by the local clergy who believed the content of Koran was holy and of divine origin and therefore, no one had the right to translate it. Taghiyev then sent a mullah
Mullah
Mullah is generally used to refer to a Muslim man, educated in Islamic theology and sacred law. The title, given to some Islamic clergy, is derived from the Arabic word مَوْلَى mawlā , meaning "vicar", "master" and "guardian"...
envoy to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
who came back with an official permission from a board of Muslim scholars to translate the Koran. Taghiyev ordered the necessary equipment from Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and sponsored the translation and the publishing.
Taghiyev also allocated 11,000 roubles for the construction of the head office for the Muslim Benevolent Society in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
; 3,000 roubles for the education of Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
orphans; 5,000 for the St. Nina's School for Girls in Baku; 10,000 roubles for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Baku
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was the main Russian Orthodox cathedral in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1898, when it was built until its destruction in 1936 during the Joseph Stalin era...
in Baku; tens of thousands of roubles for the construction and repair of mosques and madrasas throughout Russia and Persia., etc.
For his outstanding contributions, Taghiyev was twice-awarded with the Order of Saint Stanislaus
Order of Saint Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus , also spelled Stanislas, was an Order in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and The Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831 and of Russian Empire from 1831 to 1917.-History of the Order of Saint Stanislaus:Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland, established the...
, as well as with a number of other orders and medals from both Russia and abroad.
Family
Balakishi Arablinski
Balakishi Arablinski Alibey oglu |Zaqatala]] - 1902, Derbent) was an Azerbaijani general in the Russian Imperial Army.Arablinski was born to the family of a local nobleman Alibey Arablinski in 1828 in the village of Tala . His family lived in Arablar quarter; hence the family name Arablinski....
. The wedding took place in 1896. Arablinski's elder daughter Nurjahan had already been married to Taghiyev's older son Ismayil.
Taghiyev sent his daughters Leyla and Sara to study at the prestigious Smolny
Smolny
The Smolny Institute is a Palladian edifice in St Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quarenghi by the Society for Education of Noble Maidens and constructed in 1806-08 to house the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens,...
Institute for Noble Maidens
Institute for Noble Maidens
Institute for Noble Maidens was a type of educational institution, finishing school in late Imperial Russia. It was devised by Ivan Betskoy as a girl-only institution for girls of noble origin. The first and most famous of these was the Smolny Institute in St.Petersburg.-Institutes for Noble...
in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, from where his second wife Sona had once graduated.
Later life
After Azerbaijan's SovietizationSovietization
Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union....
in 1920 the country's wealthy suffered severe repressions from the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
government resulting in the émigration of many of them. Taghiyev's house and his other possessions were therefore confiscated. Due to his past contributions and generosity, he was given an option of choosing a place of residence for himself. Taghiyev chose to stay in his summer cottage in the village of Mardakan, not far from Baku. He died there four years later, on 1 September 1924 of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. After his death, the summer cottage was confiscated and Taghiyev's family members were driven out of it. His wife Sona, once a wealthy, educated and charitable noblewoman of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, died in misery on the streets of Baku in 1938.
The Azerbaijan State Museum of History
Azerbaijan State Museum of History
Azerbaijan State Museum of History is the largest museum of Azerbaijan, located in Baku, in the former mansion of Azerbaijani oil magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. It was founded in 1920.- History :...
is located in the former Taghiyev mansion in Baku.