One of Yerevan schools to be named after Armenian benefactor Galust Gulbenkian

PanARMENIAN.Net - As a part of the "Our great" program one of Yerevan schools will be named after the Armenian benefactor, the largest oil tycoon of mid XX century Galust Gulbenkian in 2010, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan said during the meeting with the delegation of the "Galust Gulbenkian" Foundation.



According to the minister, a documentary film about the life of Gulbenkian is to be shot, it will be aired on Armenian Public Television. Schools in Armenia will give introductory lectures devoted to the life of Galust Gulbenkian. 



Galust Gulbenkian was an English businessman and a millionaire of Armenian origin, the largest oil tycoon of mid XX century and philanthropist. He was born March 23, 1869, in Istanbul (Turkey). At the beginning of XX century he was actively involved in organization of world oil production, helping the largest companies in the world to optimize production.

In 1907, the result of his work was a merger of the Danish and British oil companies into Royal Dutch Shell, for that work Galust Gulbenkian received a 5 per cent stake in the new company. Later Gulbenkian participated in the creation of other oil companies (Turkish Petroleum Company, Iraq Petroleum Company ...), always receiving a 5% reward in new companies, for which he earned the nickname "Mr. 5 per cent". He founded the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. 

In 1922 he built the Church of St. Sarkis in London. In 1929, he restored the church of the Holy Sepulcher, and gave a significant part of ancient Armenian art works from private collections to the Patriarchate. In 1932 he donated 4000 pounds sterling for the construction of the Armenian church and school in Tripoli (Libya). 



In late 1920th , when the Soviet Government, experiencing deficit in foreign currency, decided to fill the budget by selling out the museum collections, the first buyer of the Hermitage's masterpieces was Galust Gulbenkian. 



Gulbenkian was considered the biggest holder of the world's largest private numismatic collections. Galust Gulbenkian died July 20, 1955 in Lisbon (Portugal).