# Rīgas Sāpju Dievmātes baznīca

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Rīgas Sāpju Dievmātes baznīca is a Roman Catholic church in Riga, Latvia, with a classicist structure from 1785. Its low bell tower and white-and-blue exterior stand near the historic Pils Square.

Construction followed Emperor Joseph II’s visit to Riga in 1780, when a small chapel occupied the site. The finished church became Riga’s first newly built stone Catholic church after the Reformation reached Livonia, and it remained the city’s only Catholic church until 1885. Johann Felsko led a major rebuilding from 1858 to 1860, moving the presbytery towards the Daugava, adding a sacristy, and reshaping the façade in a pseudo-Romanesque style. Wilhelm Bockslaff later designed the octagonal neo-Renaissance baptistery, added on the west side in 1895.

The church forms part of a historic complex with a pastoral building and the Saint John Paul the Second Polish Center, opened in 2023. Latvian masses and Polish services connect the building with Riga’s Catholic communities, while the façade preserves traces of several architectural periods.

- City: [Riga](https://mytuur.com/en/city/riga/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ChurchofOurLadyofSorrowsRiga_68750bc3622f9d68e0bc0573_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iglesia_de_Nuestra_Señora_de_las_Lamentaciones,_Riga,_Letonia,_2012-08-07,_DD_02.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ChurchofOurLadyofSorrowsRiga_68750bc3622f9d68e0bc0573_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Peter's_Church.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ChurchofOurLadyofSorrowsRiga_68750bc3622f9d68e0bc0573_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Location_map_Latvia_Riga.png)

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