Carl von Siemens made his name mainly through his business dealings in Russia. In 1853 he travelled to St. Petersburg to supervise the construction of the Russian telegraph network for which Siemens & Halske had a contract. Here he soon proved himself to be a decisive and competent businessman. In 1855 the Russian business, under his management, became a separate subsidiary, lending vital support to the parent company in Berlin. In 1869, Carl went to England, where he assisted his brother Sir William with the business for more than a decade. In the early 1880s he returned to St. Petersburg and injected new life into the Russian business. For his contribution to the industrial development of Russia, Carl von Siemens was ennobled by Czar Nicholas II in 1895.

In 1889 Carl von Siemens acquired the Gostilizy estate, with a history which began back in the 17th century and was closely linked with the court of the Russian czars. The picture book produced by Bodo von Dewitz and Ludwig Scheidegger thus starts with Peter the Great, who founded St. Petersburg on the Neva delta in 1703, and ends with the revolution of 1918, when the last owner of Gostilizy, Baroness Marie von Graevenitz, a daughter of Carl von Siemens, was forced to leave Russia.

A full account of the estate in all its aspects is provided by this comprehensive publication, which contains numerous documents and historical pictures of Gostilitzy and its owners and current photographs. There is a detailed chapter on the family of Carl von Siemens in the form of a portrait gallery with comments on each picture, and the final German chapter of Gostilitzy consists of the fully reproduced memoirs of Wera Zum Wald-Mertens, who lived on the estate from 1918 to 1925 following the Russian Revolution.

 This fascinating picture book has been published in German language by the Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin and costs €48 (ISBN 978-3-033-01533-3). 

 

January 21, 2010 | Sabine Dittler