St. Anne’s Church is the oldest church building in Liepāja, first mentioned in written records in 1508. It was originally a wooden building, but over the years both the nave and the steeple have been reconstructed several times.
The church gained its current form when Liepāja’s most well-known architect Paul Max Bertschy undertook reconstruction of the church. The steeple was reconstructed first (1889) and only then the nave in 1893. By looking carefully, one will notice the differences in shade of the bricks thus giving evidence of the two-part reconstruction process.
After increasing the height of the steeple, St. Anne’s Church became the tallest building in Liepāja, about 60 metres high. It is possible to climb up the church steeple and to look at the city from above through the small steeple windows.
The greatest treasure of the church is the 9.7-metre high and 5.8-metre wide altar, handcrafted by the Baltic German woodcarver Nicolas Sefrens in 1697. It is the largest and artistically most valuable specimen of Baroque wooden sculptures in Latvia.
The church can also be proud of its organ which was designed and built based on the sketch by the famous Latvian composer Alfrēds Kalniņš. It is the third largest organ in Latvia with 2nd and 1st place going to the organs in Liepāja’s Holy Trinity Cathedral and in the Riga Dome Cathedral, respectively.