The Church of Saint-François-des-Cordeliers was constructed as part of a monastery under Duke René II of Lorraine following the Battle of Nancy, next to the Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine. It was consecrated in 1487. The monastery was Franciscan and the French name term cordelier refers to the simple rope belts the monks would tie their cassocks around. Since the monastery was under the patronage of the dukes, the church had close ties to the House of Lorraine and a number of its members were laid to rest there. Previously members of the family were laid to rest in St George's Collegiate Church, which does not exist anymore.
The church continued to keep its connection to the ducal house after Lorraine passed under royal French rule. Marie-Antoinette of Austria stopped at the church to pray on her way to Paris for her marriage to her future husband King Louis XVI of France. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria also came to pray here in 1867.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.