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Vērmane Garden

Latvian cultural monument No. 5583

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ1854781 ↗
Source-derived summary

Vērmane Garden (Latvian: Vērmanes dārzs, German: Wöhrmanns Garten) is the oldest public garden in the city of Riga, Latvia, and currently comprises an area of approximately 5 hectares (12 acres). The current name is a Latvian transliteration of the garden's original German name.

Wöhrmann Park

Vērmane Garden was originally created as Wöhrmann Park in 1814 on behalf of the Governor General of Governorate of Livonia Philip Paulucci, just a couple of years after the outskirts of Riga was burned down during the French invasion of Russia prior to the Siege of Riga. Financing and land for the park was sponsored by the Prussian Consul General to Riga Johann Christoph Wöhrmann (1784–1843) and his mother Anna Gertrud Wöhrmann (née Abels, 1750–1827).

Wöhrmann Park was inaugurated with festivities on 8 June 1817 as a fenced 0.8 hectares (2.0 acres) park with exotic trees, a rose garden and restaurant. A granite obelisk was erected 1829 in the park as a posthumous memorial to Anna Wöhrmann. The memorial was dismantled prior to World War II and recreated 2000.

1836 the Riga Chemist and Pharmacist Society initiated a mineral water shop in the park restaurant. When the premises became too narrow, reconstructions were conducted according to a project by architect Heinrich Scheel in the years from 1863 to 1864 and 1870 to 1871. 1869 the park had a sundial and fountain installed.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Vērmane Garden” is latvian cultural monument No. 5583. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Vērmane, Garden and Latvian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1814, 1784, 1843, 1750—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1817-01-01. For this dossier, Vērmane, Garden and Latvian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “latvian cultural monument No. 5583” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1854781. Authority coordinates are 56.951, 24.119. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1814, 1784, 1843 and 1750.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Vērmane Garden”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Vērmane Garden primary sources, Vērmane Garden archive and Vērmane research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Vērmane Garden”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Vērmane Garden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.