The peasant environment has always been rich in talent, producing many renowned scientists, artists, sculptors, jewelers, engineers, and other gifted individuals. Among them was Pyotr Ionovich Gubonin, who became an oil industrialist. His interests were not limited to oil extraction alone. But let's take it step by step.

Gubonin was born in 1825 in the village of Borisovo in the Kolomna district of the Moscow province to a family of serf peasants. At the age of 17, he went to Moscow to earn a living, where he worked as a craftsman. By the age of 33, he had saved enough money to buy his freedom. At that time, the oil industry was beginning to develop, aided by the rapid expansion of railroads, as trains required fuel and lubricants. Pyotr Ionovich decided to try his hand in this new business and in 1874 founded the Baku Oil Company. The products of his factory were of high quality and soon received a bronze medal at the All-Russian Industrial Exhibition in Moscow. But Gubonin did not stop there. Using his connections, he reached out to Dmitry Mendeleev and offered him the position of chief consultant on technical and chemical issues. The first continuous waste-free oil distillation apparatus, invented by the scientist, was put into operation at Gubonin's factory. Additionally, Pyotr Ionovich organized a network for the delivery of processed oil across the European part of the empire.

However, the oil business was not his only passion. Gubonin aimed to turn southern Russia into a thriving resort, and he nearly succeeded. In 1881, he purchased the estate of Gurzuf in Crimea. There, he built seven hotels, installed a water supply system, organized a mud treatment facility, and developed the waterfront, greenhouses, fountains, and parks. Gubonin bequeathed that he be buried in Gurzuf, and in 1894 he was laid to rest in the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary that he had built.