AGLONA BASILICA

The church was built in 1768 to replace the wooden church that had burned. A belief indicates that King Mindaugas (Lithuania), dead on the road to Aglona, would be buried there. Upon construction, the White Fathers (Dominicans) worship the painting of the Virgin, brought back from Vilnius (Lithuania), who would have healing powers. An identical painting in Trakai would have been offered to the grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania by the King of Constantinople during his country's christianization. Still there, it has been continuously requested since 1997. The painting of the Virgin is called "Queen of the North", because it is the most northern virgin of northern Europe. A monastery and a cloister juxtaposaient the church. The church is a baroque style, with paintings trompe the eye, and would be the replica of that of Trakai (Lithuania). Inside, the altar is a donation of a rich Latvian family (in 1887). In 1990 Pope John Paul II transformed the church into the small basilica, the only one of Latvia. In 1993, he went on pilgrimage. There are 70 beds on the ground, the tents for the tents. This basilica is a place of pilgrimage (every year from 14 to 16 August).