St. Joseph's Cathedral

St. Joseph's Cathedral is the largest Catholic church in Courland and the centre of the Diocese of Liepāja. The history of this building hides a fascinating construction secret – the present large red-brick Neo-Romanesque cathedral, built at the end of the 19th century after a design by the famous architect Ludwig Melville, was erected around the old, small 18th-century stone church.

The old church was not demolished but instead walled up inside the new, grand structure, so the current left nave of the cathedral is nothing other than the former historic church. The cathedral draws attention with its splendid and unusual silhouette – its facade is adorned with one large and several smaller towers topped with pyramidal roofs.