The Wawelbergs were a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

family whose banking house was active in both

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

Hyppolite Wawelberg

The Russian branch was founded by Hyppolite Wawelberg (1843–1901). The first Wawelberg

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

had its origins in a

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

that began operating in the early 1840s. In 1869 young Hyppolite Wawelberg moved to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

where he launched a new venture, the

Wawelberg Bank The Wawelbergs were a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish family whose banking house was active in both Congress Poland and the Russian Empire. Hyppolite Wawelberg The Russian branch was founded by Hyppolite Wawelberg (1843–1901). ...

. Hyppolite Wawelberg's Polish-Jewish connections (Wawelbergs were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

) remained strong, and the

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

was generally known as having two separate centers - in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and in

. The first location of Wawelberg Bank was 25

Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is a main street ( high street) located in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. Its name comes from the Alexander Nevs ...

in St. Petersburg (House of the Parish of Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, now housing

Stockmann Stockmann plc is a Finnish retailer established in 1862. Stockmann's eight company-owned department stores are in Finland (six), Estonia (one), and Latvia (one). There also were an additional nine Stockmann-branded department stores in Russia ...

department store and SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System offices). Hyppolite Wawelberg made a fortune in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

though he was equally well known as a generous philanthropist. The new

Polish Kingdom The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavic tribe of Polans who lived in what is today the historic region of Greater Po ...

(; ), as created by the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, was a Polish entity but was in personal dynastic union with

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

, since the reigning

Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russi ...

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

was also king of Poland. Though based in

, the Wawelbergs were instrumental to the development of finance in the Polish Kingdom. They were to Congress Poland what the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

s were to Florence, the

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. ...

s to Augsburg, the

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

s to France, and the Mellons to the late-19th-century United States. By 1900 Hyppolite Wawelberg was at the helm of the

and held the title of honorable citizen of

, an appellation that could be passed on like a

title of nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

. He was also a member of the

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

board of the Warsaw Bank of Commerce (Bank Handlowy w Warszawie). Back in St. Petersburg he was a member of the treasury of the Jewish Colonist Society, honorable member of the Jewish Educational Society (Общество распространения просвещения среди евреев) and benefactor of the Roman Catholic Beneficial Society (Римско-католического благотворительное общества). In 1875, in Warsaw, Poland, Hyppolite Wawelberg co-founded the Museum of Industry and Agriculture (''Muzeum Przemysłu i Rolnictwa w Warszawie''). It was in a physics laboratory there that, in 1890–91,

Maria Skłodowska Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first wo ...

(Marie Curie), future investigator of

radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

and future double

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

, did her first scientific work. In 1895 Hyppolite Wawelberg founded the Warsaw Mechanical-Technical School with his faithful friend and collaborator, Stanislav Rotwand (Cтанислав Ротванд, Stanisław Rotwand), an 1860 alumnus of the

University of Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

law school.

Michael Wawelberg

Michael Wawelberg (''Михаил Ипполитович Вавельберг''; 1880 – after 1929) received a classical educational at the St. Nicholas Imperial Gymnasium in

Tsarskoe Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms ...

(''Царскосельская Императорская Николаевская гимназия''), from which he graduated in 1899. His father Hyppolite Wawelberg donated 500

rouble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

s for the gymnasium's own charity, which at the time was a considerable sum of money. in 1903 Michael Wawelberg graduated from the University of St. Petersburg law school. That year he also took over the management of the Wawelberg Bank, which in 1912 was renamed the St. Petersburg Commercial Bank (''Петербургский Торговый банк''). In 1913 a branch was founded in Poland and became a publicly traded company – the Western Bank (''Bank Zachodni'') in Poland). The Wawelbergs later lost control of it due to Russian Bolshevik-induced turmoil. In 1910 the

Commercial

purchased a

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

with a lot underneath it{{clarify, date=June 2019 in one most prestigious locations, at the corner of

and aristocratic ''Malaia Morskaia ulitsa'' (7 and 9 ''

''). The bank announced an open competition for the building's design. The competition was won by young

n architect Marian Peretiatkovich (Peretyatkovich). Naom Sindalovskii quotes a telling local St. Petersburg legend about building's construction. According to the legend after the building was constructed and the client (Michael Wawelberg) inspected it and could not find any deficiency with the work, he ordered to change the doors anyway because the door sign said "push." That's not what I do in life, said Wawelberg, I only pull things toward myself. In 1917, on the eve of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

putsch, Michael Wawelberg lived in

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

at ''66 Boulvardnaia ulitsa'' (66 Boulevard Street; ''ул. Бульварая, 66''; Soviet name: ''Октябрьский бульвар'', Oktiabr'skii Boulevard). He was the chairman of the Commercial Bank and director of the board of Donetsk and Grushev Coal and Anthracite Mines (''директор правления Донецко-Грушевского акционерного общества каменно-угольных и антрацитовых копий''). He fled Russia after 1917 and then disappears from the public view. Most likely he settled in Poland or spent some time there, because in Andrei Serkov's book on Russian

Free Masonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

he mentions that two free masons, Alexander Erdman and Michael Wawelberg (М. И. Вавельберг), as they considered themselves Russian, petitioned Grand Master of the Polish Lodge with a request to allow them to found the Russian Lodge in Warsaw. In St. Petersburg the Wawelbergs are best remembered because of the Wawelberg Bank building still popularly known as the House of Wawelberg (Дом Вавельберга) at 7/9 Nevsky Prospekt.

References

* List of alumni, Law School (Law Faculty), University of St. Petersburg, 1860. * Naom Sindalovskii - St. Petersburg, from Building to Building, 2002, Наум Синдаловский, Петербург от Дома к Дому. 2002 * Entire Petrograd, the Address Directory - 1917, Suvorin's Publishing - Весь Петроград. 1917. Петроград. Изд-во А.С.Суворина. 1917. * Andrei Serkov. The History of Russian Free Masonry from 1845 to 1945. Chapter 9. Андрей Серков. История русского масонства (1845–1945). Глава 9. * Naom Sindalovskii - St. Petersburg Biographical Dictionary, 2002, Наум Синдаловский, Биографический словарь, 2002 * Nevsky Prospekt - the architectural guide (Boris Kirikov, Ludmila Kirikova, Olga Petrova) - Cetropoligraph, Moscow, 2004 -(Невский проспект - Архитектурный путеводитель, Б. М. Кириков, Л.А. Кирикова, О.В. Петрова), Центрополиграф, Москва, 2004 Polish bankers Banking families Russian Jews Bankers from the Russian Empire Jewish-Polish families Russian families

Hyppolite Wawelberg

Michael Wawelberg

See also

References