Church hill and St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

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On the opposite side of Aizpute castle ruins, on the right side of the river Tebra is the 16 meters high Kurshi castle mount (now church hill). In the year  1254, in the place where German crusaders robbed and ruined the ancient Kurshi castle, a castle was built. The Saint John evangelic Lutheran church has been renovated and rebuilt and today it is one of the oldest churches in Courland. Up until the 16th century, Catholicism was preached, but after that, it was given to the evangelic Lutheran congregation. In 1571 the first Lutheran priest Johanim Reming worked here for 43 years. The church has been rebuilt many times – the tower was built in 1730, the altar in the late 19th century, but it got it nowadays look in 1860. The bell of the church is also very noteworthy, which 400 years ago (in 1589) after re-casting started to ring again. There is an organ built by the famous German company “Sauer” in 1904, also there are paintings like “Kristus Ģetzemanes dārzā” (Christ in the garden of Gethsemane)(J.I. Egniks, 1833) and “Krustā sistais”(The one nailed to the cross)(J.F. Vāgners, 1864) and to the right from the altar, you can see the gravestone of the bishop of Courland H.Bazedovs. Aizpute Saint John Lutheran church is one of the oldest churches in Courland, it is a national architectural monument and it is included in the European cultural heritage list.

Address: Liepājas iela 3, Aizpute
Phone: (+371) 28281449
Web page: www.aizputesaeld.lv
GPS: 56.721001, 21.599402

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