The chapel created in 1291 by Cistercian monks assumed its present shape in 1440 when it was rebuilt as a St. Mary's brick church. The half-timber framed nave (oak beams with brick fillings) was constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries with the choir annex added in the 18th century. Later restoration works served to expose paintings from around 1470 on the walls and the triumphal arch. The oldest decorative features are the Gothic triumphal crucifix (around 1500) and the Gothic carved altar created in 1520 at Antwerp. This altar is considered one of the truly outstanding sacred works of art anywhere in Northern Germany and bears close stylistic resemblances to the Bordesholm Altar at Schleswig by Hans Brüggemann and Jan Bormann’s altar for the Güstrow parish church made in Brussels at roughly the same period. The altar was originally acquired by wealthy merchants from Stralsund for a local Church and found its way to its present location only in 1708. The pulpit was originally made for another church, too, probably again in Stralsund, and the and brass chandelier also comes from there.
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.