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12011201–1290 · Riga

Founding of Riga and the Livonian Crusade

Riga Cathedral's brick nave and tall tower lit at dusk above Dome Square
Photo: Ryzhkov Sergey. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bishop Albert of Buxhoeveden founded Riga in 1201 as the base for a crusade against the pagan Livs, Latgalians and other Baltic peoples, and created the Order of the Sword Brothers to fight it. By 1290 German bishops, knights and merchants ruled the lands of present-day Latvia, and their descendants remained the landowning elite for centuries. Riga joined the Hanseatic League and grew rich on trade.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Riga CathedralBishop Albert's cathedral, begun in 1211, the largest medieval church in the Baltic states.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: St Peter's ChurchThe burghers' church, with a tower view over the old Hanseatic town.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Turaida Castle, SiguldaThe archbishops' brick castle on a Liv hillfort site, with a museum on the Livs.Map ↗

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