[Photo from liveriga.com]

Byzantine-style Riga Grebenschikov Old Believers' Prayer Chapel features a modest exterior and an Art-Nouveau-style tower with the only golden dome in Riga. Besides, the building is the world's biggest Old Believers' church, housing a congregation of 25,000 people.

The church is deemed to be built in 1760, when a wooden barn was erected on the Daugava riverside and named Moscow Prayer Chapel on Dvina. In late 18th century, it was accommodated in a stone building. In 1826, the church was named after Alexey Petrovich Grebenschikov, trader and supporter of Old Believers. Over many decades, the building underwent many transformations, the latest of which occurred at the end of the 19th century; the tower was built in 1905 after Russian Emperor Nicholas II issued a manifesto on freedom of religion. The church features a prayer hall with an iconostasis, several rooms for ceremonies, administration premises, appartments for clergymen and servants. The community has a huge collection of icons, books and manuscripts from the 15th to 19th century. Services are held according to ancient tradition.