202 The Nobel Brothers

Nobel brothers, two took oil, one dynamite

Double room with black and gold combination. One of the castle's beautiful corner rooms overlooking the castle park.

In 1874 Alfred Nobel's brothers — Robert and Louis — buy some refineries in Baku, Russia. Then again, the city remains a trading post for camel caravans heading between China and Europe. The company soon goes from smaller factory to oil group all while Alfred Nobel refuses to visit his brothers in Baku. It's the climate he can't handle. “What could attract me there would be companionship — yours and maybe Louis's — but the waterless, dusty, oil-sullied desert itself offers me no enticement,” he writes in a letter to Robert. Knut Henrik Littorin is hired at the Moscow office and makes a rapid advancement to manager and board director.