Nativity of Christ Cathedral is located in the centre of Riga and is the largest Orthodox Church in the city. The idea to build a new Cathedral in the city was established in 1872. After the competition for the construction of the temple, with a capacity of 2,000 people, at the end of 1875, the project was approved by R. K. Flaga.

Bookmark the new Cathedral made of Riga, Bishop Seraphim in may 1876. The construction was supervised by architect N. In. Chagin. According to the draft, the temple should be 5-dome, and the dome was largely surpassed the height of buildings. Originally, this temple is the bell tower was not planned, however, closer to the end of the construction of the Emperor Alexander III granted the Cathedral 12 bells, cast at the plant of the Moscow merchant. D. Finljandskogo renowned master of the time K. Verevkin. For the bells project was completed the belfry built in the same style as the Church. Belfry perfectly fit into the original plan of the temple, combined with the Cathedral in style and composition. The bell tower was connected with the Cathedral by a covered walkway.

Decoration inside of the temple was primarily in ornamental paintings, executed in Byzantine style, complemented font compositions in the arches. The icons were painted in the Academy of arts of famous artists as F. S. Zhuravlev, K. B. wenig, A. I. Korzukhin, V. P. Vereshchagin. Items were ordered in factories I. A. Zheverzheeva, I. P. Khlebnikov, and others.

The construction of the temple was completed in 1883, the following year, the Riga Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ was surrounded by an openwork fence and smashed square on the inside. The consecration of the Cathedral took place on 28 April 1884. Three days later on Saturday over the city for the first time heard the chime of 12 bells. Pretty quickly the temple turns into a recognized spiritual center, not only of the Latvian capital, but in the entire region. There is evidence that in the autumn of 1894 the celebrated John of Kronstadt, which is now canonized.

In 1918 the Riga self-government closed the temple worship were prohibited. When the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, at the invitation of the Latvian Council of Orthodox parishes, visited Archbishop John Pommer, he found the temple in a catastrophic state. Glasses were broken, bells, the iconostasis is cut and piled up, the painting is destroyed, the crucifixion thrown in the trash.

Began to rebuild the Church. Archbishop John, in order to prevent further destruction of the Cathedral, and, if possible, to collect and put in order what remained, settled in the basement of the temple. Gradually, the price of hard struggle, and with the help of locals and the Russians, began the restoration of the temple. Initially for each service required the permission of the authorities. Daily services held in Church Slavic and Latvian languages, began with Christmas 1922. To the mid - 30's, and again the Church became a spiritual centre of Riga, the painting was updated, there was a struggle for the restitution of the property of the Cathedral. A new wave of destruction brought by the Second World war, after which the Cathedral again gradually restored, becoming the spiritual center of the city.

By order of the Council of Ministers on 5 October 1963 Nativity of Christ Cathedral was closed. From the Cathedral, only the walls remained, everything else was destroyed or pillaged. In 1962 the building of the former Cathedral turned into a planetarium.

In July 1991, began the difficult path that's already the third resurrection and the restoration of the Cathedral. The first worship service, in difficult conditions, did his Eminence Archbishop Alexander January 6, 1992. Since that time, services were held regularly, and the same day was carried out the repair work. Now the temple is covered with beautiful paintings, made a new roof, the dome covered with copper, although much remains to be done. Families benefactors of Vladimir Ivanovich Malyshkov and Igor Vladimirovich Malyshkov donated a beautiful iconostasis.

Today "thrice resurrected" as it is popularly called, Riga Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ takes its rightful place in the cultural and spiritual life of the capital of Latvia. During his visit to Latvia in may 2006, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy held a worship service.