There are several degrees of difference between the winters of his native Puerto de la Cruz and the winters of Saint Petersburg; but neither this, nor a change of culture, language, or landscape brought Agustín de Betancourt back in 1808 when he decided to pack his bags and move to the tsars’ Russia. Disgraced in the eyes of the great Godoy, with nothing left but family and memories in Spain, he had been in Paris for a while and had influential friends, so… What could he lose?

None.

It was.

The steppe adventure will bring him significant gains; but above all to Russia itself. So much so that St. If you visit St. Petersburg you will find several statues in his memory.

Land of tsars, land of tsars Alexanders Y NicholasIt would probably have been a little less brilliant had it not been for the genius of the inventor Agustín de Betancourt, who shaped his private life in the early 19th century, whom we now associate with his gaudy and retort structures. “Made in Russia Canary Islands”. Especially the capital, St. in St. Petersburg.

Augustine to Augustinovich

Agustín de Betancourt y Molina (1758-1824) is another name in the long list of native geniuses Spain, before and after him, for one reason or another, did not know how to fully exploit. It happened to Isaac Peral, Mónico Sánchez, Ángela Ruiz, Emilio Herrera… and Betancourt.

In his case, yes, oddly enough.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the status of the Canarian engineer in Spain was, in its own way, enviable. He was of good nature, built a career between Madrid, Paris and London, earned the trust of the earls of Floridablanca or Aranda, and enjoyed deep-seated prestige for his work on steam engines or steam engines. optical telegraph Designed with Claude Chappe.

Besides being a man of action, Betancourt was also a man of letters, promoting the founding of the School of Roads and Canals, inspired by the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris.

Despite all this prestige and status, the situation at the dawn of the 19th century was not at all encouraging. In 1805, with his seal on the Genil River, a report was given to him by IV. This situation and the scenario outlined internationally prompted Betancourt to liquidate his possessions in Spain and move first to Paris, where Napoleon came to seduce him, and then to Russia.

There, St. Petersburg, he managed to win the favor of the best godfather imaginable: Tsar Alexander I, who in the Canary had probably seen a genius all too well for the development of his country. What Spain allowed to pass was to be used in the Russian empire. If the future is not attractive to Agustín in Madrid, perhaps 3,000 kilometers from there.

Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

So he packed up, took care of his pending business in France, and went to St. He set out for St. Petersburg. There they waited for Agustín “Agustinovich” Betancour with open arms.

Perhaps convinced by his prestige or by Agustín’s interviews with him, the tsar soon showed his confidence in the canary. One of his first orders was the modernization of the Tula cannon plant, a strategic equipment in the military apparatus of the Russian Empire. Betancourt was not new to the encomienda and knew how to take advantage of its knowledge. double acting steam engine and the operation of the Yndrid factory to reverse the old Russian system.

The result must have convinced the Tsar. This is the only way to understand that over the ensuing years, Augustine was in charge of tasks of great importance to Russia and that he was accumulating more and more prestige. Within a few years, the former engineer, who had a relationship with Godoy, became a lieutenant general and director-general of Communications in the Russian army.

He was tasked with constructing a building in Moscow in record time. new Equestrian Exercise Room and at about the same time he was responsible for what could have made the greatest—and most profound—contribution to Russian urban planning: designing a new commercial space that could take over from the fair. Near the Makaevsky Monastery since the 16th century. In 1816 its old headquarters burned down and the Russian government wanted to save it…

The responsibility of deciding where and how the overall design fell to the canary. The enclosure opened its doors in July 1822 with a huge fair that brought together more than 200,000 merchants and helped develop the Volga region and the wealth of the empire for years. The fact that Betancourt did nothing wrong in these efforts is indicated by the fact that at his death Russian merchants placed a plaque of appreciation on his grave. two hundred years later stamp of Tenerife It is still deep in Nizhny Novgorod.

Tsar Alexander I.

Although the Nizhni Novgorod complex is perhaps its great urban legacy, the city in which it is most widely used and made the greatest impact is Saint Petersburg. There, in the capital of the empire, he showed his talent in at least half a dozen capital works for the metropolis: the new paper money mill, the dredging of the harbor, several bridges and St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

As the Orotava Foundation remembers, Betancourt took on the task of establishing a new institution in March 1816. paper money factory He was in Goznak, on the banks of the Fontanka canal, and for two years was responsible for the supervision of the works. His involvement was not limited to building: he organized the premises and machinery, designed banknotes, and supported the modernization of the obsolete Russian ruble production system, which until then made it an easy target for counterfeiters.

Over the years, he has built several bridges across the Neva River and helped to have Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, one of Saint Petersburg’s most photographed buildings today. Although the temple’s father was architect Auguste de Montferrand, Betancourt’s collaborator, Canary was tasked with completing the foundations with piles, designing the scaffolding and designing the intricate crane system that allowed the red granite pillars to distinguish the building. To be grown..

It wasn’t the only time that Betancourt put his mechanical genius at the service of the capital. Betancourt designed special machines to dredge the embankments of the fortified port of Kronstadt, which served as a naval defense for the capital. Powered by a steam engine, its mechanism premiered in 1812 and did not require repair until 1820. His good eye made him understand. potential of waterways and because of his position in government, he encouraged them to fortify with docks, retaining walls, locks, and dredges.

The ironies of history are that his years in Russia did not end very differently from what happened to him in Spain. Despite the success of the Nizhny Novgorod fair, its expenses and the irregularities of one of his collaborators, added to other factors such as his sympathy for the liberal revolutions in Spain, overshadowed his relationship with the Tsar in the early 1820s.

Agustinovich, who did not even need to make an appointment to meet with the Tsar in time, was dismissed on a practical level and requested retirement, which was granted to him in 1824 without any problems.

Yes, its stamp remained in Saint Petersburg.

helping give shine to the city of the tsars.

And Spain got lost on the way.

Pictures | Алексей Трефилов and Wikipedia (1 and 2)