Riga, Archdiocese of

RIGA, Archdiocese of. - Archdiocese and capital city of Latvia on the banks of the Daugava.

It has an area of 64,000 sq km with a population of 1,950,502 inhabitants, of whom 476,963 are Catholics; it has 126 parishes and 166 churches; it has 1 seminary (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 338).

On the current state of devastation of the archdiocese see LATVIA.

Founded in 1201 by Bishop Albert of Livonia, it was immediately created an episcopal see and in 1255 an archiepiscopal see; after declining in 1522 due to the passage to Protestantism, it was re-established on 22 Sept. 1918, separating it from the archdiocese of Mohilev. By decree of the S. Congr. Consistorial of 25 Oct. 1923 it was erected into an archbishopric, and Pope Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution Plurimum sane of 8 May 1937, erected it into a metropolitan see, assigning to it as suffragan the diocese of Liepaja, detached from the archdiocese of R. by the apostolic constitution Aeternam animarum salus of 8 May 1937 and elevating the Cathedral to the dignity of metropolitan.

R. is the seat of the Latvian University (Latvijas Universitate), founded in 1919; it has 11 faculties; the University Library contains over 200,000 vols.; there is also the State Library (1919) with ca. 500,000 vols. and the civic one (1524) with many manuscripts and incunabula. There is furthermore the Civic Art Museum (1816) and the Historical Museum (1920) with archaeological, ethnographic, historical and numismatic material.

Enrico Josi