History of Latvia between 9000 BC - 3001 BC
Archaeologists and historians consider that the first inhabitants of the Baltic lands, who began to populate them immediately after the Ice Age, (about 9,000 B.C.), were hunters, but the forms of culture of the so-called Stone Age were as yet too primitive to allow of conclusions about the ethnic relations of this people.
Reference: Latvians.com
| Next historical period: Neolithic Age (-3000--2001)Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.