Dikļi Lutheran Church

Dikļi Church is one of the rarest cultural values in Vidzeme. In the historical articles church is already mentioned in 1630./31. The altar of the old church is placed in the new church and is preserved to this day. Current building is built in about 1848. In the second part of the 19th century writer and talented teacher J.Neikens served here as the priest.
sites.google.com

Probably, in 1436 the landlord Detlef Pahlen had received an approval from the Riga archbishop to establish the Dikļi congregation. However, the year of construction of the first church remains unknown, and oldest sources date back to 1630.

The present, third in a row, Dikļi church building was built in 1848 in the place of the former church. It was built in an extraordinary way by keeping the roof of the former building, and by replacing wooden structures with stone walls.

The decoration of the church walls is representative of the respective times – stone splinters are pushed in to the plastering. Windows and doors are highlighted with edges painted in white, while the corners of the building – with vertical white areas.

The church is given an ancient atmosphere with the light coming into the small-shaped glass windows, the glass of which dates probably back to the 19th century. Wooden arches of the church date most probably back to the same period of time.

A rare example of mannerism art is preserved in the church – part of a grave slab (17th century) of Anna Pahlen-Ungern.

Juris Neikens, the writer, teacher, and Lutheran priest served as a priest in the Dikļi church from 1857 to 1867. In 1864 he gathered choir singers from local parishes in Dikļi, thus starting one of the most wonderful Latvian traditions – the Song Festival.
www.entergauja.com