From far down the avenues near it, Riga's Orthodox Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ makes its presence known with its gilded dome and towers visible above the tree line.
The gold is relatively new, done in 2010, on a building that's had quite a checkered history. The neo-Byzantine building went up in the 1870s with the blessing (and a contribution) from Russian Tsar Alexander II. It's the largest Orthodox cathedral in what were once Russia's Baltic provinces.
In World War I, occupying German troops turned it into a Lutheran church; it was returned to Orthodox worship in 1921, during Latvia's first independence. In the 1960s, during Latvia's years as part of the USSR, it was closed and turned into first a planetarium and then a restaurant.
After 1991, in Latvia's second independence, it was fully restored as a cathedral; in 2002 it got new bells to replace those that had been removed and in 2010, the gilding, which cost over €550,000.
The interior is spectacular, with rich woodwork and distinctive and beautiful icons. Though it is a serious place of worship, the bright colors don't allow for any of the darkness and solemnity that sometimes mark great churches.
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