Latvia
Nativity of Christ Cathedral
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The Nativity of Christ Cathedral was built 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 initial design did not feature a separate belfry but as the Russian Czar Alexander II presented a surprise gift (12 bells) the design was improved with one more dome for bells. 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 defense of the cathedral, including defense 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 the cathedral, sawed down the crucifixes, and re-melted the bells, and converted it into a planetarium, called the Republic House of Knowledge. The restoration began in the late 1990s with, and the iconostasis was consecrated by Archbishop Alexander on 6 May 2000. The renovation is still ongoing.
