About the Church
The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ludza is a Roman Catholic church of the Diocese of Rēzekne–Aglona, standing in the town of Ludza on Baznīcas Street. Its parish is considered the oldest Catholic community in the whole of Latgale – its origins go back to the end of the 14th century, when Ludza Castle was being built around 1399.
The first Catholic house of prayer here stood next to the castle, but it burned down during the Livonian War. In 1621 Jesuits came to Ludza and founded the parish. A wooden church was built in 1687, which burned down in 1736; in 1738, through the efforts of canon Obrickis, a new wooden church was raised, consecrated in 1742 by the Livonian bishop Juozapas Puzina. The old church held five ornate Baroque altars carved by Italian craftsmen, and the high altar bore a painting of the Assumption of Mary by the painter Korlovskis.
In 1938 the great fire of Ludza destroyed this church as well. Construction of a new masonry church began in 1939, but the war and the Soviet occupation halted it for many decades; work resumed only in 1989, and the church was consecrated on 24 September 1995. It is a plastered red-brick building of Baroque form, which remains the principal centre of the Catholic community of Ludza.
The first Catholic house of prayer here stood next to the castle, but it burned down during the Livonian War. In 1621 Jesuits came to Ludza and founded the parish. A wooden church was built in 1687, which burned down in 1736; in 1738, through the efforts of canon Obrickis, a new wooden church was raised, consecrated in 1742 by the Livonian bishop Juozapas Puzina. The old church held five ornate Baroque altars carved by Italian craftsmen, and the high altar bore a painting of the Assumption of Mary by the painter Korlovskis.
In 1938 the great fire of Ludza destroyed this church as well. Construction of a new masonry church began in 1939, but the war and the Soviet occupation halted it for many decades; work resumed only in 1989, and the church was consecrated on 24 September 1995. It is a plastered red-brick building of Baroque form, which remains the principal centre of the Catholic community of Ludza.