Riga city microdistrict: Ķengarags.
The neighborhood of Ķengaraga is located in the SE part of the city of Riga, between the Ogre direction railway and the Daugava, and borders with the neighborhoods of Moscow Forštate, Šķirotava and Rumbula, but also with the neighborhood of Katlakalna via the Southern Bridge. The current territory of Ķengarag was in the Mazjumprava manor in the Middle Ages. The history of the manor begins in the 13th century. In the Middle Ages, the manor was called “Blümendāl” (“valley of flowers”), but the manor was popularly known as Jumpravmuiž.
(Jumpravmuiža)
The street network in Ķengaraga began to form in the 19th century. in the middle after the establishment of the Kuznetsov factory. In December 1908, a railway line was opened to the Kuznetsov factory, but already since the 19th century. until the end of Rātslaukum to Ħengarag could be reached using horse-drawn omnibus traffic. In the past, a boat with a berth in Ķengarag also used to go along the Daugava. Although Ķengarag has historically been a semi-industrial district, nowadays it has become more of a “sleeping district”. Nowadays, there is a developed supermarket and trade network here. 20th century In the 1950s, two-story residential houses for the needs of railway workers began to be built in Ķengaraga. Individual construction also developed here, but after the detailed plan developed in 1962, multi-storey construction began. The residential complex consists of 5 microdistricts and their centers, the public and shopping center of the district on Bultu Street. The five-story building is complemented by two-and-a-half-story tower buildings.
1960. gada 20. februāris. Rīgas Ķengarags pārmaiņu priekšā.
Most of the territory of Ķengarag was added to Riga in 1924, when the land reform was underway in Latvia, and the city of Riga also significantly increased its territory to ensure its development, adding lands that started behind the Krasta massif and extended to the Škirotava station. From 1934 it became one of the administrative districts of the city. The very southern end of Ķengaraga between Šķirotava station and Daugava was added to Riga only in the 1960s, when intensive construction of this area began.
Improvement works on the Ķengaraga promenade have been carried out by the Riga Eastern Executive Directorate for several years. Until now, a pedestrian and bicycle path has been created along the Daugava, supplemented with rest benches, environmental objects, a playground, a bird observation tower, pedestrian bridges, and the well-maintained territory of the Mazjumprava manor. In 2016, an ambitious project was launched – the construction of the multifunctional shopping center “Akropole”. Its total area will be 98,000 m2 and more than 1,500 jobs will be provided. Even today, the city is constantly continuing its development and growth, new projects are being built, at the moment the biggest new project being built in Ķengarag is “Two Shores”.
