Riga Cathedral

Riga Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

A small ticket covers the cathedral and the cloister, which holds an outdoor collection of carved stones, cannon and old weathercocks. Organ concerts are the main business here and are ticketed separately: the 1884 Walcker organ has 6,718 pipes and was the largest in the world when built, and half-hour recitals are held several times a week at a modest price. Longer evening concerts cost more.

Guided tours of the Old Town include the cathedral and cost several times the entry. The cathedral is on Doma laukums in the middle of the Old Town, a five-minute walk from anywhere in it. Nothing needs booking except the better concerts, and the cathedral closes to visitors during Sunday services. The cathedral shop sells recordings made on the organ, which is the practical souvenir if the concert times do not suit.

Visiting Riga Cathedral: what to see

Bishop Albert, who founded Riga in 1201, began the cathedral in 1211, and the result is the largest medieval church in the Baltic states, built in brick with a Romanesque east end, Gothic nave and a baroque spire added after lightning brought down its predecessor. The floor level of the surrounding square rose over the centuries and the church now sits in a shallow hollow, so that visitors walk down into it. The interior is Lutheran plain, whitewashed with dark wood, hung with the coats of arms of merchant families and lit by nineteenth-century glass.

The cloister on the north side is the oldest part of the complex and the quietest corner in the Old Town. During the Soviet period services were banned and the building was used as a concert hall, which is how the organ tradition became the centre of its public life. The pulpit of 1641, carved in oak with figures of the evangelists, survived both the Reformation and the Soviet period in place. The cloister gallery displays a collection of stone carvings rescued from demolished Riga buildings, including gargoyles and merchants' doorway plaques.

Riga Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily with shorter hours in winter and closure during services; the cloister keeps the same schedule. Recitals are usually at midday on several days a week through the summer and less often in winter. Riga's Old Town is busiest from June to August and around the Christmas market, which stands in the cathedral square. The brick interior is cold from October to April. Dress is informal.

Photography without flash is allowed except during concerts. Allow forty minutes, an hour with a recital. The Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation is attached to the cloister and has its own ticket, and the Three Brothers houses and St Peter's tower are both within five minutes. Doma laukums is the largest square in the Old Town and holds cafes on three sides, which makes waiting for a recital pleasant.