Svētā labticīgā Aleksandra Ņevska pareizticīgo baznīca

The Orthodox Church of Saint Blessed Alexander Nevsky stands in Riga as a wooden Eastern Orthodox church from the early nineteenth century. Its classical design forms a perfect circle beneath a large rotunda, creating an unusual silhouette among the city’s religious buildings.

Merchants Pavel Grachev, Mikhail Bodrov, and Mikhail Popadyin funded construction through private donations after the victory over Napoleon. Workers laid the first stone in 1820, and the church was consecrated on 31 October 1825 in honour of Alexander of Neva. Twelve columns support the central dome and galleries, which together span about eleven metres, while the structure rests on a stone foundation. The interior and exterior first received plaster and paint in 1852, and later repairs preserved the building through repeated changes.

A restoration begun in 2015 cleaned the walls and ceiling, repaired the plaster, and returned the decorative painting to its original colours. Look for the polychrome details beneath the dome, where the twelve columns turn the compact wooden interior into a carefully ordered classical space.