OIL, MILLIONS AND MILLIONAIRES

The past has the surprising ability to be seen as a time when the "stars were closer", people were kinder and the young were better. We all idealize the past in some way. For example, when talking about the oil boom, many remember fondly people like Zeynalabdin Tagiyev and the pre-revolutionary buildings which still delight us with their refinement, style and special architectural aesthetic. But for all these clear benefits, we almost always think only of Tagiyev, the philanthropist. among the many millionaires of the past. It is probably because we don't know it very well that we idealize that time.

Oil lottery

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Baku was a very dusty and dirty city. Due to the constant lack of water, there were hardly any parks or gardens in the city. The rapacious extraction of oil had a negative impact on the environmental situation in the city. There were large oil lakes around the oil fields as a result of the frequent oil fountains. As a result, oil prices went right down, while transport costs were very high. This is why desperate owners of oil fields could set fire to their manmade lakes, in order to raise oil prices. Thus, in the 1870s, powerful oil fountains caused great damage to the surrounding villages. The ecological situation in Baku was catastrophic. The "Black City", the then industrial district of Baku, was dark even during the day, because there was so much soot literally falling from the sky. Even cats, sparrows and the seagulls turned black. Gigantic factory chimneys rose to the sky on every corner, distributing their soot haphazardly. Buildings, warehouses and workshops near the oil rigs were often flooded with oil. Constant disputes over the oil fields often led to criminal actions. There were even people who made a living by giving false testimony. This was done in the following way: placing their hand on the Koran, they swore that the land under their feet really belonged to a certain person. However, to excuse themselves from such a sin, they invented the following trick - they put soil in their shoes from the land of the person who had hired them for this job.

Oil could turn yesterday's stonemason or porter into one of the first millionaires. It was a lottery. While the millions of the fledgling millionaires flowed like a river and settled in local and foreign banks, the oil fields themselves were in terrible condition. Manaf Suleymanov made some interesting comments about this in his book "Days Gone By": "Hillocks, pits, stinking trenches and cavities full of horse manure; fuel oil and soot are falling from the sky… When it rains mud rises to your knees, the cold freezes your heart and in summer, the heat tires you out. There is not a single drop of water, and if the Xazri (north wind) starts blowing, clouds of dust cover everything around. Tiny, wet dugouts, crestfallen rows of barracks - no light, no air and so many plank beds on which exhausted workers fall after their long working day. Dirt, sewage, infectious diseases, early ageing and death…"

The contrasts within that old Baku were much sharper than you can imagine now. Alongside terrible poverty, total illiteracy and disease, there was a world of luxurious restaurants and casinos bedecked with royal luxuries - silk lampshades, crystal chandeliers, velvet curtains, marble and mirrors… Representatives of the "golden youth" and the "city fathers" gathered in the Summer (the Philharmonia) and Winter Clubs (Officers' House) and their favourite entertainment establishment, Canax Qala (the Azerbaijan cinema). The entry fee was from five to 25 roubles in gold. Meanwhile, apart from their direct purpose, the casinos also entertained their rich visitors. A musical programme was presented for select clients, we would call them VIP visitors today, and something special was in store: a curtain made of thin lace came down before the drunken visitors and behind the curtain danced naked beauty queens. Card games were often interrupted by disputes that sometimes ended in shootouts. Most of these fledgling millionaires found themselves foreign mistresses. They bought villas for their "lady-loves" and gave them large allowances. What is more, they did not hide their affairs even from their friends and wives, and would argue with their friends as to whose mistress was the better.

"Poor" millionaire

In this crazy oil fever which changed not only the people, but also the face of the city, one of Baku's millionaires cut quite a colourful and influential figure - Musa Nagiyev. Myths and jokes about him circulated during his lifetime. His oil had made him one of the most influential persons in Baku at that time. He was born into a poor family in Bilacari. His father sold hay and his brother worked as a bathhouse attendant all his life. In his youth, Aga Musa furrowed through the streets of Baku carrying a back-pack - he worked as a porter (hambal). Thanks to oil and his natural business acumen he became a millionaire. In Baku alone, he owned about a hundred buildings and dozens of ships. He was a very brutal and greedy man. Having become a millionaire and built houses for himself, Aga Musa moved his Muslim wife and children into a beautiful mansion on the corner of Torgovaya (Painters' Alley). He himself and his second wife - a Georgian Jew - moved into a majestic three-storey building (at the intersection of Samad Vurgun and Schors Streets). This house became a landmark in the city. Aga Musa did not spare any money here, clearly trying to outdo his neighbours. In front of the house there was a small square with a flower garden. The interior design of the house was also distinguished by its beauty - with panelling, gilding on the ceiling and walls, bas reliefs and high reliefs, parquet laid out in a startling mosaic, mirrors from Italy and furniture from France. Incidentally, the above-mentioned Winter Club like the Astoria Hotel on the opposite side of the road, which was the most fashionable hotel in Baku at the time, belonged to Musa Nagiyev. Later, he built another hotel, the "New Europe" (currently, Lukoil's head office) which was even more luxurious and the tallest building in Baku at the time.

Despite his success in financial affairs, he was a very reticent character. No-one knew how much oil he had in his tanks and warehouses. He was so tight-fisted with his staff that they say he fired his contractor for lighting a cigarette with matches when there was a bonfire nearby. "If someone does not take care of their own property, they are unlikely to take care of another's property," said the mean millionaire. No-one managed to borrow money from him. In response to those who asked him for money, he would say: "I don't know anything about financial affairs. My manager Fatulla bey is in charge. Go and ask him." Even beggars in Baku did not extend their hand to him, knowing that it was pointless. Nagiyev sometimes visited the casino. He even had a special chair in which only he could sit. He sat and watched the players, often taking a little nap. Losers began to beg Aga Musa for a loan and he would mercilessly begin dictating his own extortionate terms. In this way, tens of thousands of roubles in gold, oil fields, factories, houses and ships filled the treasury of the former porter.

Although Nagiyev was nicknamed "xasis" (stingy), he was still forced to do some charity work as it was an important part of a true Muslim's image at the time. He undertook, for example, to complete the construction of the building of the real college - he built its third storey - he built a hospital on the outskirts of the city (Semashko Hospital), donated a lot of money for the construction of the Baku water pipeline and made quite large donations to education. Sponsoring the Baku real school, he paid for the upkeep of 25 Muslim children in preparatory classes. As a result, Muslims soon constituted 50 per cent of all pupils.

The Ismayiliyya building

An interesting story is related about the Ismayiliyya building which Nagiyev built for a Muslim society. Following the sudden death of his son - Aga Ismayil, Haci Zeynalabdin asked him at the funeral wake: "Aga Musa, may your son rest in peace. Do you want to immortalize his name for centuries?"

- "Yes, of course", the father said sadly.

- "The Muslim charity foundation does not have a building. Build a house and call it Ismayiliyya. Then Aga Ismayil's name will not disappear from our memory."

Inspired by this idea, Musa Nagiyev answered that this was a really good proposal. Haci made a gesture to cadi Mir Mahammad and, raising his hands to the sky, he began reading a prayer of thankfulness. All those present surrounded Nagiyev, congratulating him on his noble deed. Having thought better of it, Aga Musa went to see Tagiyev later and started complaining: "What you forced me to accept yesterday will cost me an awful lot of money! Where should I get so much money? Haci, what have you done to me? Do you want to make me bankrupt?"

In response, Tagiyev said that he would pay two million for Nagiyev's assets. But he angrily replied: "Are you crazy? Are you estimating my 16-million fortune at two million?"

- "But you just said that you don't even have 100,000 to build a house in memory of your son," Haci replied.

The next day, Zeynalabdin Tagiyev published an announcement in the Kaspi newspaper that if Musa Nagiyev went bankrupt, he undertook to build the Ismayiliyya building with his own money. He asked the architects to provide an underestimate so that Musa would not have a stroke. The construction work went quite quickly at the beginning, but then Nagiyev's meanness almost spoilt the whole business. There was not enough money to complete the building and they asked Nagiyev for more. But he turned down their request, saying, "I paid you in full and can't give a single penny more." The construction work stopped for some time. Tagiyev had to ask Nagiyev's manager Fatulla Rustambayov to persuade the old man to splash out the money.

One fine day when Nagiyev was in a good mood, Fatulla decided to remind him of the Ismayiliyya. "This is not good, what will people say about Aga Musa? We need to finish the construction." In response, the millionaire gave up and said in despair: "Go and do whatever you want, but don't say anything to me." Fatulla brought banking documents to his boss for signature. Nagiyev signed, closing his eyes tight in order not to see the sum that he was about to lose.

The wonderful Ismayiliyya building immortalizes the names of the skilful stonemasons who became the talk of the town: Master Hanifa, Master Haci Abbas, Master Haci Xeyrulla, Karbalai Mirza Soltan and Salman Ata. Their skilful hands vivified the tough stone, turning it into wonderful flowers, patterns, intricate ornaments and cobwebs of magical patterns.

By 1914, Musa Nagiyev's fortune amounted to 70 million roubles in gold. His whole estate was estimated to be much higher. After his death the clergy, on the basis of Shari'ah law, demanded that his heirs hand over 10 per cent of his inheritance to mosques. In response, concerned about these claims, the heirs provided the "holy fathers" with evidence that Aga Musa was not a Muslim and belonged to the Bahai faith. They cited an example, saying that Nagiyev once refused to swear on the Koran in a court and took his oath on the book of Sheikh Bahaulla. Perhaps as a result of this unseemly dispute between his heirs and the clergy, there were few people at his funeral.

The magic power of "black gold" raised yesterday's workers, artisans and shopkeepers to the heights of glory and wealth in the blink of an eye. They travelled in Europe, holidayed at the most expensive resorts and surrounded themselves with beauty and luxury. But only a few of them, like Zeynalabdin Tagiyev, managed to live not only for themselves, but also for the good of their family. They remembered that it was in their power to make their city and country better and more educated. Money helped them do good - to lay pipelines, build schools, hospitals and mosques, to send talented young people abroad for education; they could then become the gold reserve of the nation for the future.

Most of the new millionaires tried their best to forget the days when they had had to tighten their belts and overstrain themselves in the streets and oil fields in summer heat and winter cold. The more ashamed they were of their past the more they showed off in their new life, which resembled a fairy tale. Squanderers, boasters and bullies - they loved to jeer at people and demonstrate their power and the power of money.

P.S. They say that Haci Zeynalabdin had an old axe which served him faithfully when he worked as a stonemason. He hung this axe on the interior wall of one of his two big safes - right in front of the door - so that he would see the axe every time he opened the door, never boast of his wealth and remember the vicissitudes of life.