Riga Dome Cathedral
Rigas Doms, Dom zu Riga
Latvia, Riga
Riga Dome Cathedral is a cathedral, a symbol and one of the main sights of Riga. It is the largest medieval church in the Baltic States. The name of the cathedral comes from the Latin expressions "Domus Dei" ("House of God") and "D.O.M." (short for Deo Optimo Maximo [en] - "To the Most Benevolent Greatest God"). At present, it is the main church building of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia. Along with the Church of St. Peter and the Cathedral of St. James, it is the high-rise dominant of Old Riga and the town-planning element of the old city (in particular, the key building of the Dome Square).
The cathedral was founded on July 25, 1211. The construction was supervised by experienced craftsmen, mostly Germans. Construction dragged on until the second half of the 13th century, and in general terms was completed only in 1270. The original building of the Dome Cathedral was an example of the so-called transitional style - from Romanesque to "Northern Gothic".
In 1524, during the Reformation, the original decoration of the church was lost, and the fire of 1547 completed the destruction. Of the planned two towers, due to lack of funds in 1547, only one was built in the center of the facade. In 1595, the stone tower was built on and received a wooden spire, surpassing in height the tower of St. Peter's Church, located just 140 meters away. However, the wooden spire required constant repair, so in 1766 it was dismantled. Instead, a low baroque domed spire was erected on a slightly rebuilt tower. The total height of the tower with a baroque dome and a cockerel on the spire was 96 meters. The interior of the church, which has survived to this day, is made in the Gothic style, and the main elements of the decorative decoration are in the Baroque style.
Numerous reconstructions have led to the fact that various architectural styles have intertwined in the architecture of the cathedral in an amazing way.
From the Gothic period of construction, the northern portal of the church, the former main entrance, has been preserved. In addition to Gothic and Baroque, the architectural decoration of the cathedral contains fragments in the Renaissance and Romanesque styles. In order to reduce the damage caused by the floods of the Daugava, the streets of Riga have been graveled for centuries, and as a result, today the floor level in the temple is much lower than the street level. In the middle of the 20th century, from a part of Domskaya Square, along the northern wall and the eastern altar part of the cathedral, the cultural layer was removed to the late medieval horizon to a depth of about 2 meters below the rest of the square, resulting in the feeling that the cathedral is located in a lowland.
