The watercolor from the collection of the National Pushkin Museum depicts the city of Orenburg.

In the foreground, one can see the Exchange Yard, customs, and the Asian Yard. There is a flock of sheep at the customs gate. On the right are several camels, sheep, and horses. In the background on the shore, the artist depicted a cathedral, the provincial office, the governor’s yard, the house of the chief commandant, and a second cathedral. To the left is a row of churches. There are also roofs of houses behind the fortress wall and a narrow strip of the river.

Orenburg was founded in 1743. It lies where the Yaik and the Sakmara rivers meet. The city was built as a fortress to guard the southeastern border of Russia, but soon became the largest station of transit trade between Russia and Central Asia.

The first governor of the Orenburg Governorate was Ivan Ivanovich Neplyuyev (1693–1773), who held this position between 1744 and 1758. He worked for 16 years, organizing this enormous, but sparsely populated region. Thanks to the governor’s efforts, the region became an important place for entrepreneurship, construction and trade. During his administration, about 40 new settlements appeared on the territory of the province, several lines of fortresses were built, roads were laid, including a postal road, connecting Orenburg with Moscow and other cities of Central Russia. In addition, iron and copper smelters were established, among them the famous Kasli and Kyshtym foundries. Orenburg was developing rapidly. 17 years after the foundation of the city, in 1760, there were almost 3,000 households, nine churches and two cathedrals — the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Presentation of the Virgin Mary Cathedral.

Ivan Neplyuyev paid special attention to the establishment of trade and safe trade routes. To make trade operations more convenient, he built a merchant yard with 150 shops and an exchange yard with 148 barns and 344 shops; the Merchant Yard in the city center was intended for winter trade, and the Exchange Yard behind the Yaik for summer trade. Several hundred and sometimes thousands of merchants came to the yard daily. Trade duties were used to cover expenses for the management of the region.

From October 5, 1773 to March 23, 1774, the city was besieged by the troops of Yemelyan Pugachev, but was not taken. In September 1824, Emperor Alexander I spent three days in Orenburg. In 1833, during his trip to the places associated with Pugachev’s Rebellion, Alexander Pushkin also visited the city.