St. John’s Cathedral

National Architectural Monument,
XIII-XX centuries
Skārņu Street 24

In 1234 Bishop Nicholas transferred the ownership of the bishop’s castle, which was located in the oldest part of the city, as well as several portions of land to the Dominican Monastery. Dominicans established there a monastery and a church, which was named after John the Baptist. This structure is located with an arching walkway girding the convent’s courtyard in the southern corner. To this day there have been preserved two través (space between two pillars). The first information about the church in this area is in 1297.

In the beginning of the XIVth century the entrance side of the church was extended by chopping a portal in white stone. During the cathedral renovation period, in the 15th and 16th century, the interior was covered with fine, webbed vaults, but on the exterior on the main obverse, almost contrary to the solid, compact, mass, out of which a thin, mounting pediment raises. St. John’s Cathedral is the last cultic building where it is possible to trace the influence of late Gothic architecture.