Piluman Tairian, who had emigrated from Erzurum to Karakilisa (now Vanadzor), in 1831 initiated the construction of the Surb Astvatsatsin Church which had been destroyed by an earthquake six years prior. A new church was built next to the old one, 10-15 meters north of the original site.
One of the grandsons of Piluman Tairian, Vasily Tairian, who became renowned in the field of winemaking, was a member of the academies of sciences of 17 countries around the world.
Another grandson, Alexander, founded the Tahirov-Mirov oil business in Baku. In 1874, Nerses Tairian founded a wine, vodka, and doshab production plant in Yerevan. In 1887, the first Armenian brandy was produced at the Tairian plant.
The Tairian family members were very rich and famous. Aside from their entrepreneurship, they were renowned for their charity activities. Tairians owned numerous factories, summer houses, hotels, charities, as well as large land plots.
Vasily Tairov (on the photo below, 1859-1928) founded the first wine-making research laboratory in Odessa in 1905.
