About the Church
The Catholic church of Valga was built in 1907 and was originally named after St John the Baptist. Its first parishioners were mostly Polish soldiers from the nearby barracks and Catholics who worked on the railway — Lithuanian and Polish railwaymen contributed to its construction. The authorities did not allow a tower to be built, so the neo-Gothic church was left without one.
The building is built of fieldstone and brick, decorated with red-brick details. It is the fourth-largest Catholic church in Estonia, and was entered in the state register of architectural monuments in 1999.
The church remained in use until 1940, and from 1945 it was used as a warehouse and a sports hall. An extension was completed in 1995, in which services were resumed. Today it is home to the Parish of the Holy Spirit of Valga, belonging to the Diocese of Tallinn: Mass is celebrated in Russian, and the community is served by the priest Viktoras Markovičius.
The building is built of fieldstone and brick, decorated with red-brick details. It is the fourth-largest Catholic church in Estonia, and was entered in the state register of architectural monuments in 1999.
The church remained in use until 1940, and from 1945 it was used as a warehouse and a sports hall. An extension was completed in 1995, in which services were resumed. Today it is home to the Parish of the Holy Spirit of Valga, belonging to the Diocese of Tallinn: Mass is celebrated in Russian, and the community is served by the priest Viktoras Markovičius.