Riga Cathedral is a symbol of Riga and one of the main attractions of the city. The date of Foundation of the Cathedral is considered to be July 25, 1211 is the day of St. Jacob. The founder of the Duomo became the Riga Bishop albert von Buxhoevden. Playground, elected Bishop for the erection of the temple was outside the compound. Albert decided to build a Cathedral, which burned down a year earlier, during the invasion of foreigners, the fishing village.

The ceremony of consecration of space for the erection of a new Church gathered all the higher clergy. The Cathedral of St. Mary, and in her honor, the Bishop decided to call the temple under construction, was to hit all the luxury and splendor. Exactly it has been covered conquered by albert land, including the Riga.

In the construction of the temple was attended by all the famous Riga builders, the temple was noted for its beauty and size of such facilities until the city was not. High ceilings supported by massive columns, arches and window bays have a semicircular shape. Thick walls of the temple were able to protect the building during any siege.

Supervised the construction of the Cathedral of the most famous foreign masters invited from Holland and Germany. The Bishop spared no money on their offspring, however, he failed to live up to the moment when the construction of the Cathedral was completed. His ashes were buried in the unfinished Church, and the Cathedral was to undergo many changes.

Next to the Duomo was soon erected and a monastery intended for dignitaries of the Bishop. All buildings are single ensemble, framed by a gallery overlooking the courtyard. Initially, in the heyday of the monastery, the gallery was used for ritual events. Later was built the dome of the Chapter, who served for meetings of Church dignitaries.

Subsequently, the Church was repeatedly rebuilt and altered. Gradually, the Romanesque style was diluted other architectural directions. During his years of existence, the dome Cathedral suffered several destructions and attacks. In the years of the reformation (1524), the Cathedral suffered defeat, from the richest previously interior decoration almost nothing has been preserved.

Particularly hard dome Cathedral was damaged during the fire of 1547, which almost completely destroyed what was able to save after the reformation. The Church suffered not only from fire but also from water. So, doms than once suffered from the spring waters of the Daugava river, there was a time when the level of water that had flooded the temple, reached the height of a man. The spire of the tower of the dome Cathedral acquired its present appearance only in 1776, his four reconstructed, as well as four times it was destroyed by a lightning strike.

During the 17th and 18th centuries were ennobled epitaphs of burial of the dead under the floor of the temple. And in the 19th century the temple was enriched with stained glass Windows, which were reflected significant moments in the life of the Cathedral. In the late 19th century established a new body, instead of the old one, which operated from the late sixteenth century. A body that still impresses with its sound, is a true landmark the Duomo. Its height sostavljaet meters. In the period of its construction it was the largest in the world.

For many years significantly increased the cultural layer around the Cathedral as the Cathedral unbreakable stood all these years, and it kept disappearing and then there were new settlements. Now, in order to get inside the Church need to go down the stone stairs, and previously had to climb up, but time is not standing still. The dome itself, the Church was restored in 1959 to 1962, it was restored interior exactly the way was more than four hundred years ago, and still under its arches organ sounds. Today in the monastic buildings is the Museum of Riga history and Maritime Museum.