St. Maria Magdalena Catholic Church

Next to St. Jacob’s Church, on Klosteru iela 2, there is St. Maria Magdalena Church built at the end of the 13^th century or the beginning of the 14^th century for the needs of the Cistercian women cloister (founded in 1255). The cloister was separated by a ring wall from the territory of St. Jacob’s Church and stretched up to the rampart wall of the city. Still today Virgin (former also Cloister) Tower is there. In Post-Reformation time, in 1582 the cloister along with St. Maria Magdalena Church was closed. For many decades rooms of the chapel were deserted until in 1632 – 1639 when it was renovated and modified into a Swedish garrison church. After Riga’s incorporation into the Russian Empire (1710) it was renamed as Alexei Church and given to the Orthodox Church. In the middle of the 18^th century the building was rebuilt and acquired its present architectonic shape. In 1923 the church again changed hands and became Catholic. Blocks of the cloister do not remain currently because in the second half of the 16^th century the city, by acquiring this territory under its authority, started building houses. On Klostera iela 5 and 7 today several living houses of the 16^th – 18^th centuries with roof constructions set in filled framed constructions can be seen.