Bishop Albert of Riga, who came from Lower Saxony, founded the cathedral on June 25, 1211, near the Daugava River. It is considered the largest medieval church in the Baltic states. It is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of Riga, and was previously Roman Catholic.
A 1923 referendum forced the Lutheran Church to share the cathedral with the Roman Catholic Church, and a 1931 referendum returned it to the Lutherans. From 1939 to 1989 religious services were banned and the building was used as a concert hall, with the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation in its southern wing. Services resumed in 1991.
The organ was built by Walcker Orgelbau of Ludwigsburg in 1882 and 1883 and inaugurated on January 31, 1884. It has four manuals, 124 stops and 6,718 pipes. The nave's copper roof was replaced in 2011, and in 2015 the tower's exterior was re-plated.
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