Sugar manufacturer Koenig’s descendants donate paintings and rare furniture to Sumy region museum

Descendants of the sugar manufacturer Leopold Koenig donated family paintings and rare family furniture to the Trostianets Museum of Local Lore.

The mayor of Trostianets, Yury Bova, announced this on Facebook.

"The family of the descendants of the Trostianets sugar factory Leopold Koenig made an incredible gift to the Trostianets museum. The original paintings of Leopold Koenig and his wife, two sofas and a sideboard, and chairs will now take their place in the former estate of Leopold Koenig, which now houses the local history museum of the Trostianets community," wrote Bova.

According to him, Leopold Koenig gave each of his five sons one set of these paintings.

One set, which belonged to Oleksandr Koenig, is still in the museum of the city of Bonn in Germany. And another set returned to Trostianets after more than a hundred years.

As for the furniture received by the museum was initially stored in Bonn at the Villa Hammerschmidt, which was owned by the Koenig family from 1868 to 1899. Later, this villa became known to all Germans as the residence of German presidents (Bundespäsidenten) after the Second World War.

For reference:

Leopold Koenig is a famous German sugar planter who owned forest lands and sawmills and was one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in pre-revolutionary Russia.

In the 1870s, Leopold Koenig became the owner of two sugar factories and one refinery in Trostianka.

Koenig received the governor's permission to conduct electricity in his estate and built a diesel power plant.

At his request, the railway appeared after some time – this is how the Smorodyne station was born, which operates today.

In 1881, the manor had its own telephone exchange, and three years later, a new hospital began to operate.