Description of the attraction
The third most important product in Saratov (after salt and flour), the production of which was established and profitable, was tobacco. At the end of the nineteenth century, the most successful tobacco enterprises were the K. A. Shtaf factory and the I. Z. Levkovich factory. The complex of buildings of the K. A. Shtaf tobacco factory, still functioning, is a landmark and history of the city.
The first mention of the factory dates back to 1828, when a descendant of German colonists, Kondraty Staf, gets acquainted with the tobacco business in St. Petersburg and buys the first production machines. With the light hand of Prince S. B. Golitsyn, who at that time was Russia's ambassador to the United States, the first tobacco seeds - "Virginia" and "Maryland" were brought to the Trans-Volga region. The hussar regiment, located in Saratov, was the first consumer of expensive and high-quality tobacco grown in the province. In 1898, the Shtaf tobacco factory, headed by the founder's son, required new, more spacious premises for developing production.
In 1900, at the intersection of Dvoryanskaya (now Rabochaya) and Gubernskaya (now Universitetskaya) streets, a new factory building was built, equipped with new equipment and machines, and Shtaf became the largest manufacturer of tobacco products. The house in which the son of the founder of the tobacco business, Kondraty Shtaf, lived, is still preserved and is located on Proviantskaya Street.
In 1915, the grandson of the founder of the tobacco factory already sold the tobacco production with stone, wooden, non-residential and residential premises to a competitor IZ Levkovich. In 1918, the factory was nationalized, leaving the name of Levkovich's factory until the 30s.
In 1993, the production was privatized and corporatized, and in 1994 the factory was bought by British American Tobacco, which still owns the building.
