Calouste Gulbenkian

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Calouste Gulbenkian

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian [ kæluːst sɑːkɪz ɡʊlbɛŋkɪən ] ( Armenian Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան , * 23. March 1869 in Scutari ( Konstantin Opel ); † 20th July 1955 in Lisbon ) was a wealthy Armenian engineer , oil traders , businessman, financier, philanthropist and art collector , who in Istanbul, London, Paris and Lisbon lived and worked. Gulbenkian died the richest man in the world.

He is considered a pioneer of oil prospecting in the Middle East and is known as the founder of the Lisbon-based Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian , which manages the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian , which opened in 1969 .

ancestry

Calouste Gulbenkian was born as the son of Sarkis and Dirouhie Gulbenkian in Scutari, today Üsküdar in Istanbul. His father was the sultan's treasury and a wealthy Armenian petroleum dealer. Both parents belonged to famous Armenian families whose origins can be traced back to the 4th century. His ancestors were the princes of Rschduni, who owned property around Lake Van (Turkey). In the 11th century, during the reign of King Seneqerim John of Vaspurakan , the Rschduni established themselves in Caesarea (Kayseri) and adopted the name Vart Badrik , a Byzantine title of nobility. According to Chatschig Levonian, the Gulbenkian family managed to preserve their Cappadocian goods after the establishment of the Ottomans ; they were given the title Beg or Bey and added the armenizing addition ian . This is how Vartbekian became Gulbenkian over the years . Arshak Alboyadjian also affirmed the origin of the Rschduni. He suspects the arrival of the Gulbenkian family from Persia after the end of the unstable conditions of the Persian-Ottoman wars in 1725. For this time, a number of Persian-Armenian families ( Baliozian , Kubesserian ) are in Kayseri and the summer vacation of Talas ( Kayseri ) guaranteed. The Gulbenkians acted as benefactors in Jerusalem and in its vicinity. Among other things, they financed the construction of the Surp Asdvadzadzin church in Talas (now a mosque), the Vart Badrikian school for boys and a girls' school in Talas. After the Crimean War , the family moved to Smyrna and later to Constantinople.

Life

Calouste Gulbenkian grew up in Istanbul, received his school education in Marseille , where he deepened his knowledge of French since 1883, and at King's College in London , from which he graduated in 1887 with an engineering diploma with distinction. He then returned to Istanbul and worked in his father's company.

1891, at the age of 22, he traveled to Transcaucasia and visited the oil fields of Baku . The Revue des Deux Mondes printed excerpts from his travel report La Transcaucasie et la Péninsule d'Apchéron - Souvenirs de Voyage under the title Le pétrole, source d'énergie . The government of the Ottoman Empire, which became aware of Gulbenkian through this publication, commissioned him to write a comprehensive report, particularly on the oil fields in Mesopotamia .

After Armenian separatists under the August 26, 1896 arms Garo the Ottoman Bank occupied had to the Ottoman government under Abdul Hamid for an end to the massacre of the Armenian population of Constantinople to force Gulbenkian fled with his family to Egypt. There he met the Armenian oil millionaire Alexander Mantashev from Baku, who put him in contact with influential personalities in Cairo.

In 1897 he went to London . In the following years he became an established and unavoidable negotiating partner for the oil industry, obtained concessions for oil production and was able to increase his fortune inexorably. In 1902 he took British citizenship.

Around 1903/04 Gulbenkian acted as mediator and representative of Russian interests in the negotiations between Marcus Samuel ( The Shell Transport and Trading Company plc , London) and Henri Deterding ( NV Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij , The Hague), and in 1910, after the revolution of the Young Turks (1908), as advisor to the newly established Turkish National Bank . He was the driving force behind the establishment of the Turkish Petroleum Company (1912/14, TPC for short) - the later Iraq Petroleum Company (1929, IPC for short) - where he worked alongside two English shareholders and Deutsche Bank (each with 23.7 % Stake) held a stake of 5%. He was nicknamed " Mister Five Percent " because he was striving for this five percent share in all businesses, and later asserted it as an intermediary for the interests of international oil companies in Exxon , BP and Shell .

From 1915 to 1942, the oil expert lived in Paris , where, among other things, he initiated the establishment of the Comité Général du Pétrol and supported its first chairman, Henri Bérenger . On behalf of the French government, he ensured that France was compensated for its war expenditures in the Sanremo Conference (1920) with Deutsche Bank's share in the Turkish Petroleum Company , which he co-founded and which is primarily in British hands . After the British merged some provinces ( Mosul , Baghdad and Basra ) from the remnants of the former Ottoman Empire in 1920 to form the kingdom that has since been known as Iraq , Gulbenkian played an important role in the uplifting of the oil treasures in this country through the now in Iraq Petroleum Company renamed company.

From 1930 to 1932 Gulbenkian was the chairman of the Armenian General Charitable Union .

Gulbenkian was also a great lover of the fine arts . Thanks to his fortune, he was able to amass an invaluable collection of paintings, sculptures and precious handicraft masterpieces.

The British national managed to leave Paris, occupied by the Germans, in 1942 - taking along his art collection - to neutral Portugal , where he mainly stayed until the end of his life. He stayed at the Hotel Aviz in Lisbon and dedicated himself to his collection and the creation of a foundation that is now managed by his grandson.

In 1938, the prudent financier in Panama registered the Participations and Explorations Corporation , now Partex , which held his shares. His property in Great Britain was confiscated by the British after World War II on the grounds that he had sympathized with the Vichy government during the occupation .

Calouste Gulbenkian died in 1955 at the age of 86 at the Hotel Aviz in Lisbon.

The believing and practicing supporter of the Armenian Orthodox Church is the founder of St. Sarkis Cathedral, built in memory of his parents in London .

Lisbon's Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian is named after him.

Calouste Gulbenkian
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
Detail of the park of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, planned by the landscape architect Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Most of the very considerable, more versatile through the mediation of contacts, clever negotiation strategies and targeted investments acquired assets Gulbenkian flowed, a testamentary available according to which his foundation Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, who's also private collection was suitable. It began its work with a seed capital of 67 million dollars and already 20 years later had 433 million dollars at its disposal , largely thanks to the income of the oil trading holding Partex . The money has been used to support artistic, charitable and scientific projects, museums, music theaters, libraries, research institutes, educational institutions and various scholarship holders.

For example, the foundation financed an internationally recognized ballet troupe named after Calouste Gulbenkian, which was dissolved in July 2005.

The Orquestra Gulbenkian, founded in 1962, and the Gulbenkian Choir are also among the foundation's renowned initiatives.

In 2018 the oil holding company was sold and the proceeds invested in sustainable projects.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt's visit to the old lady alludes to Gulbenkian with the figure of the dubious benefactress Claire Zachanassian and her foundation. The name Zachanassian comes from the moving together of Zacharoff , Onassis and Gulbenkian.

Museu Calouste Gulbenkian

The Museu Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, opened in Lisbon in 1969, has a collection of 6,000 works and is divided into 17 departments, among which those of Oriental art and European art from the 11th to the 19th century are to be emphasized. It is highly valued in international art circles.

progeny

  • Nubar S. Gulbenkian (* 1896 in Armenia; † 1972) was educated in Harrow and Cambridge, studied in Bonn, entered the oil business, worked as a secret agent during World War II, and then lived in London as one of the richest men in the world
  • Rita-Sirvart Gulbenkian (* 1900) ⚭ 1920 Kevork Essayan (* May 11, 1897 in Istanbul; † April 1, 1987 in Paris)
    • Mikhael Gulbenkian Essayan (* May 7, 1927, † October 23, 2012 in London)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/erdoel-muenzen-und-moderner-tanz.871.de.html?dram:article_id=125215
  2. ↑ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/review-mr-five-per-cent-the-many-lives-of-calouste-gulbenkian-the-worlds-richest-man-by-jonathan-conlin -x9qc70b9j
  3. ↑ Eric Bogosian: Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide © 2015 Ararat Productions Inc., p.55
  4. ↑ See Renate Petriconi: Mister Five Percent
  5. ↑ The Petroleum Pioneer Foundation is getting out of petroleum , NZZ, February 8, 2018
  6. ↑ Strategy 2018-2020 | Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Retrieved March 29, 2019 (American English).
  7. ^ Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The visit of the old lady. Tragic Comedy, Zurich: Diogenes 1998, p. 141.

literature

  • Ralph Hewins: Mister 5%. The life of the oil millionaire Caloust Gulbenkian. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1958.
  • Nubar Gulbenkian: We - the Gulbenkians. Portrait in oil. Piper, Munich 1966.
  • Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 36/1955 of August 29, 1955, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
  • Jonathan Conlin: Mr Five Per Cent: The many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian, the World's Richest Man . London: Profiles, 2018

Web links

Commons : Calouste Gulbenkian  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Gulbenkian, Calouste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gulbenkian, Calouste Sarkis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British engineer, oil explorer, businessman, financial expert and art collector of Armenian descent
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1955
Place of death Lisbon