Ogre Lutheran Church

Brīvības Street 51, Ogre
+371 65047915

The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Ogre was formed in the 20th century. Initially,  in 1908, residents of the Ogre seasonal village decided to build the Forest Chapel. The priest of the Salaspils congregation Waldemar von Huhn on behalf of the congregation bought a piece of land and commissioned to an architect Edgars Frīzendorfs (1881–1945) a project of the church in 1909. The Forest Chapel with 300 seats was a wooden building and stylistically reminded of sacred buildings in the South of the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The chapel burnt down during the WWI.

The Congregation of the Ogre Seasonal Village was formed in 1927, thus there was a need for a church. The church in late neo-Gothic style was designed by a project of Haralds Kundziņš which was altered by an engineer Andrejs Kēse. The new church with 422 seats was built in a year on the remains of the Forest Chapel. The church was consecrated on 31st August 1930. The bell of the church (Ø 0.78 m, 200 kg) was made at the bell foundry of Schwenn, Riga. A phrase "Dzīvos saucu, mirušos apraudu" ("The living I call, the dead I bewail") and the words "Ogres pilsētas baznīcai Ziemas svētkos. Liets no J.C.Schwenn. Rīga, 1930.g." ("A Christmas present to the church of Ogre Town.  Made in J.C.Schwenn. Riga, 1930.") are written on the bell.

The altarpiece, which was a present from the first head of the congregation Andrejs Kēse, was created by Jānis Šēnbergs based the work of Karl Huhn The Second Advent of Christ. In 1940, the pipe organ was played at the church for the first time. During the Soviet period, the fate of the congregation and the church was in jeopardy. During the 1970's, only 50 people were registered in the congregation, and less than 20 people visited church services. The Catholic congregation used the church to hold its services, as well as the Baptist congregation after 1975. Since 1999, only the Lutheran congregation holds its services here. There were 362 registered congregation members in 2010. Spiritual music concerts also take place here on a regular basis. An architectural  monument of local importance.
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