Russian market-gardeners

Lithograph by T.H.Rickman from the series ‘Sketches from life of Riga’s residents’, 1842.

The lithograph shows Russian market-gardeners. Looking from the position of the chancel of the Cathedral of Peter, it may be assumed that these are the gardens of the Kurmanovs family. Brothers Kurmanovs serfs of Count V. Orlov produced candles in Riga from 1793 to 1819. Their descendants became the most successful market-gardeners of Riga. For many years after the Kurmanovs’ gardens were closed, a street in their name was laid on this site (now E. Birznieka-Upīša Street). Among the successful Russian market-gardeners of the 19th Century in Riga were the Smirnovs, the Pavlovs,  the Gorelovs, the Khokhlovs and the Zhidelevs.