The House in Batumi Where Alfred Nobel Lived🇬🇪🇸🇪
- mukhrang
- May 8
- 3 min read
Batumi — “City of the Nobels”
In this blog, I mainly focus on the Nobel brothers’ connection to Georgia, but I also want to expand the topic to the broader subject of the historical ties between Georgia and Sweden. I am personally a big fan of the Nordic countries, especially Sweden. Even though I have never been there, it gives me great pleasure to write about them.
Before moving to the 19th century and the Nobel brothers, I do not want to skip one fascinating story. Around 3,000 Swedish Vikings came to Georgia in the 11th century, and King Bagrat IV hired them during his struggle against the rebellious nobleman Liparit Bagvashi. A famous battle took place around 1045 near what is today the village of Sasireti, about 70 km from Tbilisi.
Around 700 Vikings participated in the battle. However, the king and the Vikings lost, and the survivors returned to Sweden. We know about this not only from Georgian and Byzantine historical sources, but also because archaeologists discovered a runic inscription believed to have belonged to the Vikings. So, if you are Swedish and traveling to Georgia, I would definitely suggest visiting this village.
Now, coming back to the main story — the Nobel brothers were entrepreneurs whose interests reached the Caucasus because of Baku oil. In 1878, they established one of the first oil refineries in Baku and later pioneered oil transportation through pipelines. In 1883, the 800 km Baku–Batumi pipeline began operating, making it possible to transport oil efficiently to Batumi.
The Nobels believed that transporting Baku oil through Batumi was the best option, as Georgia and Azerbaijan had friendly relations and the route was considered less risky.
“Among all the possible routes for transporting oil from Baku, I recommend choosing the route that passes through Georgia, because besides the geographical proximity between these two countries, one should also consider the unique sense of friendship and loyalty that has existed for centuries between Azerbaijanis and Georgians. For us foreigners, this factor is of special importance.” — Alfred Nobel
They built oil reservoirs in Batumi, some of which still exist today, and also developed tankers for oil transportation.
In 1910, the Russian photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky took some of the first color photographs of Batumi and called it the “City of the Nobels.” By that time, the Nobel company had become the largest oil company in the entire Russian Empire.
In 1917, Ludwig Nobel’s son, Emanuel Nobel, sold the company.
From 1877 onward, Batumi developed rapidly thanks to the oil industry and foreign investment.
The Nobel family’s story itself began earlier, when Immanuel Nobel, the father of the three brothers, moved to St. Petersburg in 1838, where he received support and privileges from the Russian Empire. He had three sons — Ludwig, Alfred, and Robert.
One of the brothers first came to Georgia together with representatives of the Megrelian noble family, the Dadianis, while searching for cheap timber materials. Eventually, they ended up creating the largest oil company in the entire empire.
Although the brothers were mainly based in Baku, they also had a summer house in Batumi. Since 2007, the building has housed a museum dedicated to the Nobel brothers, which I highly recommend visiting. The Nobel House in Batumi was constructed in 1883, but during the Soviet era it was used as a police building. Much of the original interior was removed, and today only the façade remains original.
Mukhran Guliashvili
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