About the Church
The Roman Catholic Church of the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Ilūkste stands in the town of Ilūkste, in the region of Selonia, close to the border with Lithuania. It belongs to the Diocese of Jelgava.
Ilūkste has a long Catholic tradition: Jesuits worked here from 1621, and in 1690 they built a large wooden church. In the second half of the 18th century an impressive Baroque church was raised, considered one of the largest in the Baltic states, but it was destroyed during the First World War and never rebuilt.
The present masonry church was built in 1806 at the expense of the noblewoman Kotryna Zīberga. In the mid-19th century it belonged for a time to the Orthodox Church, and in 1921 it was returned to the Catholics and consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The church, built in Classicist forms, remains the centre of Catholic spiritual life in Ilūkste.
Ilūkste has a long Catholic tradition: Jesuits worked here from 1621, and in 1690 they built a large wooden church. In the second half of the 18th century an impressive Baroque church was raised, considered one of the largest in the Baltic states, but it was destroyed during the First World War and never rebuilt.
The present masonry church was built in 1806 at the expense of the noblewoman Kotryna Zīberga. In the mid-19th century it belonged for a time to the Orthodox Church, and in 1921 it was returned to the Catholics and consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The church, built in Classicist forms, remains the centre of Catholic spiritual life in Ilūkste.