Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady Church

To give it its full name, the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady Church (Latvian Orthodox) is one of a very small number of wooden churches left in Riga. The church dates from 1818 and remains pretty much unaltered since that date.

An earlier version of the church (which in various incarnations dates back to the 15th century) was razed, along with other buildings in the area, by Tsarist forces in 1812 to deprive Napoleon’s (secondary) army of shelter during the Siege of Riga in that year.

The yellow wooden structure, often referred to as St. Nicholas’ Church after one of its chapels containing an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, sits in the shadow of the massive Soviet Realist style Latvian Academy of Sciences building and is a nice introduction to numerous other old wooden buildings you will encounter if you venture deeper into the Moscow District, which I recommend you do.

Unfortunately, due to our unsuitable attire (shorts), we were unable to go inside the church which I understand to be fairly simple, though having some important historic icons worthy a look.

Address: Gogola iela 9-13

This is one in a group (loop) of reviews exploring beyond the Old City area of Riga. Continue to my next entry. Alternatively to start at the beginning of the loop click here.