About the Church
The Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viļaka stands in the town of Viļaka, in the Balvi municipality, in north-eastern Latgale. The impressive Gothic Revival church belongs to the Diocese of Rēzekne–Aglona and is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
A Catholic church in Viļaka was first mentioned in 1683, and in 1748 a wooden church was built there. The present masonry church was designed in 1880, at the expense of Countess Alina Lipė-Lipska, by the Riga Polytechnic engineer Florianas Viganovskis. The cruciform, three-aisled church, built of red brick, was consecrated in 1891 by Bishop Ludvikas Zdanovičius.
The church is about 31 metres long and 21 metres wide; its facade is adorned with two towers 46 metres high. The interior is adorned with three oak altars, thirteen stained-glass windows, statues of Saints Peter and Paul, and a 22-stop organ made by the Blomberg firm in Warsaw. Both world wars badly damaged the church, but it was rebuilt.
In 2005 a memorial site was set up by the church, dedicated to the Latvian partisans who died in the Stompaki bog. The Viļaka church is one of the most striking monuments of sacred architecture in Latgale and an important centre of spiritual life for the region's Catholics.
A Catholic church in Viļaka was first mentioned in 1683, and in 1748 a wooden church was built there. The present masonry church was designed in 1880, at the expense of Countess Alina Lipė-Lipska, by the Riga Polytechnic engineer Florianas Viganovskis. The cruciform, three-aisled church, built of red brick, was consecrated in 1891 by Bishop Ludvikas Zdanovičius.
The church is about 31 metres long and 21 metres wide; its facade is adorned with two towers 46 metres high. The interior is adorned with three oak altars, thirteen stained-glass windows, statues of Saints Peter and Paul, and a 22-stop organ made by the Blomberg firm in Warsaw. Both world wars badly damaged the church, but it was rebuilt.
In 2005 a memorial site was set up by the church, dedicated to the Latvian partisans who died in the Stompaki bog. The Viļaka church is one of the most striking monuments of sacred architecture in Latgale and an important centre of spiritual life for the region's Catholics.