Nativity Cathedral, Riga

Nativity Cathedral
The Nativity of Christ Cathedral in 2012
Nativity Cathedral
56°57′14.09″N 24°6′55.97″E / 56.9539139°N 24.1155472°E / 56.9539139; 24.1155472Coordinates: 56°57′14.09″N 24°6′55.97″E / 56.9539139°N 24.1155472°E / 56.9539139; 24.1155472
Location	Riga
Country	Latvia
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox

This article is about the Orthodox cathedral of Riga. See other articles for the Lutheran cathedral, the Roman Catholic cathedral and the other Orthodox Cathedral.

The Nativity of Christ Cathedral (Latvian: Kristus Piedzimšanas pareizticīgo katedrāle, Russian: Христорождественский кафедральный собор), Riga, Latvia was built to a design by Nikolai Chagin and Robert Pflug in a Neo-Byzantine style between 1876 and 1883, during the period when the country was part of the Russian Empire. It is the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Baltic provinces built with the blessing of the Russian Tsar Alexander II on the initiative of local governor-general Pyotr Bagration and bishop Veniamin Karelin. The Nativity of Christ Cathedral is renowned for its icons, some of which were painted by Vasili Vereshchagin. During the First World War German troops occupied Riga and turned its largest Russian Orthodox cathedral into a Lutheran church. In independent Latvia, the Nativity of Christ Cathedral once again became an Orthodox cathedral in 1921. Archbishop Jānis Pommers, a native Latvian, played a key part in the defence of the cathedral, including defence from the Latvian government which was extremely unfriendly to Orthodox Church in the first years of an independent Latvia. In the early 1960s, Soviet authorities closed down the cathedral and converted its building into a planetarium. The cathedral has been restored since Latvia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Gallery

• 
  Side door
• 
  Central dome
• 
  From St. Peter's Church
• 
  Prior to gilding
• 
  Dome interior
• 
  The iconostasis
• 
  Ca. 1900

See also

• Neo-Byzantine architecture in the Russian Empire
• Latvian Orthodox Church

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ (Riga).

• About Nativity Cathedral on the portal Other Riga

Riga cityscape
Old Town	Castle Cat House Convent Yard Dannenstern House House of the Blackheads House of the Livonian Noble Corporation Large Guild Powder Tower Small Guild Swedish Gate Three Brothers
Hotels	Grand Palace Radisson Blu Daugava Gallery Park
Monuments & memorials	Brothers' Cemetery Bikernieki Memorial Forest Cemetery Freedom Monument Great Cemetery Pokrov Cemetery Victory Memorial to Soviet Army
Parks & gardens	Vērmanes Garden
Museums & galleries	Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation National Museum of Art Museum of the Occupation of Latvia Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum War Museum Museum of Foreign Art Museum of National History
Theatres	Latvian National Opera Latvian National Theatre Palladium Riga New Riga Theatre Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre
Places of worship	Nativity Cathedral Cathedral St. Peter's Church St. James's Cathedral
Bridges	Island Bridge Railway Bridge Southern Bridge Stone Bridge Vanšu Bridge
Structures	Radio and TV Tower
Other	National Library of Latvia Central Market Latvian Academy of Sciences Zoo Mežaparks Great Bandstand
Waterways	Daugava River
Streets	Albert Street