St. Francis Church, Riga

The St. Francis Church ( Latvian: " Sveta Franciska Romas Katolu baznīca " ) is a Roman Catholic church in the Moscow suburb of Riga.

It was built of bright red bricks in Neo-Gothic style. Your twin towers project respectively 58.4 meters into the sky. The church is located near the central train station and was inaugurated in 1890. It is surrounded by a small park, where the buildings of the parish and a seminary located.

Building

The predecessor of this church was a Catholic house of prayer, which the Roman Catholic population of Riga allowed burials. In 1888 it was decided to build a new church, it was initiated by Francis Afanasovičs who created the blueprint. The church project was approved by the Polytechnic Institute in Riga and the architecture student Florian von Viganovsky entrusted with the implementation.

On September 24, 1889, the cornerstone was laid and consecrated the church of St. Francis. The construction of the roof of the church was completed in 1890. A year later, the two towers were built (height: 60m ), designed the facade and just a year later there was a new central heating system.

The church was made ​​of red brick (width: 43.35 m, length: 22.5 m) built, built the towers only from stones. Window and door frames and columns using yellow bricks. The towers and the roof are covered with galvanized iron.

In the 1930s, a wall was built around the church, which now surrounds the area of the former cemetery. In the 1960s, a restoration took place in the church, which was based on the state of 1900. The drawings of the prototypes of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi were modeled in Italy.

In the churchyard there is still the grave of the composer Conradin Kreutzer. The original simple cross was replaced by a relief with the image of the composer.