About the Church
The Roman Catholic Church of St Louis in Krāslava stands in the town of Krāslava on the river Daugava, Latgale. It is one of the most significant and valuable Baroque churches of Latgale, and belongs to the Diocese of Rēzekne–Aglona.
The masonry church was built in 1755–1767 at the expense of Count Konstantinas Liudvikas Pliateris (Plāter) by Lazarist missionaries; the work was directed by the architect Antonio Paracca. The church was originally being built as the cathedral of the Diocese of Livonia (Piltene), but after the 1772 partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when Krāslava passed to the Russian Empire, the plan for a cathedral was abandoned and the church remained a parish church. It was consecrated in 1777.
The towerless, three-aisled masonry church is distinguished by frescoes painted in 1760–1762 by the Italian artist Filippo Castaldi. The church holds relics of St Donatus, three bells cast in 1787 and 1853 hang in it, and a crypt of the Pliateris family is fitted beneath the church.
The church remains to this day an important centre of Krāslava's Catholic spiritual life and of the whole region's cultural heritage.
The masonry church was built in 1755–1767 at the expense of Count Konstantinas Liudvikas Pliateris (Plāter) by Lazarist missionaries; the work was directed by the architect Antonio Paracca. The church was originally being built as the cathedral of the Diocese of Livonia (Piltene), but after the 1772 partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when Krāslava passed to the Russian Empire, the plan for a cathedral was abandoned and the church remained a parish church. It was consecrated in 1777.
The towerless, three-aisled masonry church is distinguished by frescoes painted in 1760–1762 by the Italian artist Filippo Castaldi. The church holds relics of St Donatus, three bells cast in 1787 and 1853 hang in it, and a crypt of the Pliateris family is fitted beneath the church.
The church remains to this day an important centre of Krāslava's Catholic spiritual life and of the whole region's cultural heritage.