Church of St Mary Magdalene
The Church of St Mary Magdalene was first built as a wooden monastery chapel around 1260 during the reign of Archbishop Albert II of Riga (1253-1273). In 1591, large-scale renovations were carried out in the church building, the visual aspect changed: new windows were installed, new paintings were applied. Between 1621 and 1710, under the Swedish occupation, Catholicism was banned and the monastery and church were therefore destroyed. Between 1632 and 1639, the church was restored and transformed into a Swedish garrison Lutheran church. In 1710, during the siege of Riga, the building burned down and Tsar Peter I of Russia ordered the restoration of the church and handed it over to the Orthodox, renaming it St. Peter's Church. The church thus obtained its present form in 1746. The church was finally given back to Catholic worship in 1922.
