Idyll since
the 18th century.
In old times Bišumuiža was a location which was
used by rich inhabitants of Riga
as a summer residence. Later on it was an important industrial area but after
the First World War – a quiet suburb of Riga.
The populated place known under the name “Bišumuiža” exists since the 18th
century when its development began at the Bauska road, not far from the place
where the little Bišupīte flows into the Daugava river. In a curve of this
little river, the summer residence of a rich Riga landlord family (Schilder) was erected
in 1773. This residence was named Bišumuiža (Bienenhof in
German). Approximately in 1810, the family of Brandenburg,
a Riga
merchant, began to administer the Bišumuiža.
One of the
first sugar plants in Riga
was built by this family at Bišumuiža. The first time Bišumuiža as a part
of the city was mentioned in the city plan of 1826. Bišumuiža is one of the
seldom toponyms in Riga
which has retained the name of a “muiža” (muiža means a manor in Latvian). (In
the 30-ties of the 20th century many historical toponyms of Riga which included the
word “muiža” were changed).
A part of
modern city.
In 1884
a horse-drawn omnibus route from Bišumuiža to Riga City
centre was opened. The omnibus made 5-9 runs a day, and this route existed till
the beginning of the 20 th century when it was replaced by the tram.
The charge for a
trip was 15
kopecks. The tram line from the city centre to Bišumuiža was opened first in
1910.
In the 19th
century the industrial growth contributed to development of Bišumuiža. At the
end of the 19th century 6 factories were located there: a band
factory, a chalk factory, a paper mill, a chemical factory and a match factory.
An interesting fact is that a lot of cabmen had
lived at Bišumuiža. It is told that a cabman had erected a six-storey
“sky-scraper” there. Some streets of Bišumuiža have retained their names in at
least one hundred years: Bauskas, Mazā Bauskas, Doles, Bukaišu and Gulbju. |
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