The convent and church of St. Clare was founded on the site in 1280s. It was to be one of the very first convents to be dissolved during the Swedish Reformation. Gustav Vasa had the church and convent torn down in 1527.
The new Lutheran church, built under the order of King John III in 1572, is a cruciform shaped. It has the second highest tower in Scandinavia, over one hundred metres high. The interior contains a fine altarpiece and pulpit, both made in the mid-18th century.
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.