Aglona is the spiritual heart of Catholic Latvia: a small village tucked away among the lakes of Latgale, in the south-east of the country, whose large white twin-towered basilica is the main pilgrimage shrine in all of Latvia. Every 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, hundreds of thousands of faithful (many arriving on foot after days on the road) gather here for the largest religious gathering in the Baltics, with night-long vigils, huge open-air masses and a sea of candles in front of the illuminated basilica.
The rest of the year, Aglona is a place of calm: a late 18th-century Baroque shrine founded by the Dominicans, home to a venerated image of the Virgin Mary (the 'Miraculous Virgin of Aglona'), surrounded by a vast pilgrimage square, gardens, a spring and the lakes, forests and fields of Latvia's most Catholic and rural region. Pope John Paul II came here in 1993, and much of what you see today was prepared for his visit.
This guide covers Aglona from a practical angle: what to see at the basilica and the shrine, what the 15 August pilgrimage is like, what it costs (admission is free), how to get there by car or bus from Riga or Daugavpils, when to come to avoid the big feast or to experience it, and how to combine it with the lakes of Latgale. It is a different kind of destination, one of faith, silence and nature, deep in the east of the country.
Aglona began as a shrine in 1699, when the Dominicans founded a monastery here in Latgale, then part of Polish Livonia, a region that stayed Catholic when much of Latvia became Lutheran. After a fire, the current Italian Baroque basilica was built between 1768 and 1780 and consecrated in 1800; it holds the venerated image of the Virgin of Aglona. Under the Russian Empire and later in independent Latvia, the shrine became established as the country's main pilgrimage destination, linked above all to the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August. In 1980 it was given the title of minor basilica, and in 1993 Pope John Paul II visited, after which the great pilgrimage square was created. We cover all of this on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The Semigallia of the warriors who held out for a century and its baroque palaces, alongside Catholic, Polish-influenced Latgale, the most distinctive region of Latvia.
Read the history of Zemgale and Latgale: palaces and the east →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
To understand Aglona, you first need to understand Latgale, Latvia's easternmost region. In the 16th century, the centre and west of the country embraced the Reformation and became Lutheran. These lands were ruled by the Livonian Order and later by Protestant Swedes and Germans. The south-east took a different path. After the Livonian War and the dissolution of the Order, this land became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as Polish Inflanty, or Polish Livonia, under the influence of Poland's Catholic monarchy.
That period shaped Latgale's character for good. Poland and religious orders such as the Jesuits and the Dominicans drove the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and it put down deep roots here. The region has remained mostly Catholic to this day, unlike the rest of Latvia, which is mainly Lutheran. Its language and culture also took on a flavour of their own. People in Latgale speak Latgalian, a language variety closely related to Latvian, and the region keeps very distinctive traditions, pottery and folk religion.
The Aglona sanctuary was born in this religious and cultural borderland. It was no accident that one of northern Europe's great centres of Marian devotion appeared here, in the heart of the lake country. It grew out of the vitality of Polish-Latgalian Catholicism, which made this corner of Latvia a place apart.
Aglona's history as a sacred place begins in 1699, when the Dominican order founded a monastery here. Tradition links the sanctuary's origins to the arrival of the friars and to an image of the Virgin Mary, around which devotion gradually grew. The Dominicans, one of the great preaching orders of the Catholic Church, played a key role in evangelisation and religious life in Polish Livonia, and Aglona became one of their most important centres in the region.
At first, worship took place in a wooden church, and a wooden church was consecrated in 1751. But wood is fragile, and fire, the great threat to old buildings, eventually destroyed that first church. The fire did not end the sanctuary. Instead, it led to the construction of the large church we see today.
The small village of Aglona grew up around the monastery and the church, and its life revolved around the sanctuary, as it still largely does. The image of the Virgin and the favours attributed to it became famous and began to draw pilgrims from across the region. This laid the foundations for the great pilgrimage that was to come.
After the wooden church burned down, the Dominicans set out to build a stone church worthy of the sanctuary's importance. The present basilica, in the Italian Baroque style, was built between 1768 and 1780, together with the monastery buildings. The result was a church with a white façade flanked by two tall towers of about 60 metres, visible from far away among Latgale's lakes and forests. Inside are vaults, columns and richly decorated Rococo altars. Bishop Jan Benisławski consecrated it in 1800.
The basilica's spiritual treasure is the icon of the 'Miraculous Virgin of Aglona', a 17th-century image of the Virgin and Child credited with many miracles and favours. As is common at the great Marian shrines, the image is normally kept covered and is only unveiled during major religious celebrations. This adds to its sacred character and to the emotion of the pilgrims when they finally see it.
The Russian Empire annexed Latgale with the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. Under Russian rule in the 18th and 19th centuries, Aglona became firmly established as the region's main Catholic pilgrimage destination. It held its ground even when the Orthodox Russian authorities at times placed restrictions on Catholicism.
After Latvia gained independence in 1918, Aglona became the great national shrine of Latvian Catholics. The pilgrimage on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, turned into a huge gathering and a symbol of identity for Latgale and for Catholicism in Latvia. However, the 20th century also brought occupation here: the Soviet annexation of 1940, the Nazi occupation during the Second World War and the long Soviet rule that followed.
During the communist decades, the atheist Soviet state obstructed and monitored religious life but failed to stamp out popular devotion. Despite the pressure, the faithful kept making pilgrimages to Aglona. It remained a centre of faith and, in a way, of quiet cultural resistance. In 1980, still in the Soviet period, the Vatican gave the sanctuary the title of minor basilica, recognising its status within the Church.
The great milestone came shortly after Latvia regained its independence. In September 1993, Pope John Paul II visited Aglona during his trip to the Baltic states and celebrated a Mass attended by tens of thousands of people. For the visit, the basilica and its surroundings were extensively renovated. The large pilgrimage square was also created: a sacred esplanade with an outdoor altar that has hosted the mass celebrations ever since. The papal visit put Aglona on the world map and gave it new life.
In 21st-century independent Latvia, Aglona is still the spiritual heart of the country's Catholics and one of the most important Marian shrines in northern Europe. Every 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption fills the small village with crowds of the faithful. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather on the esplanade. Many have walked for days from distant cities, and those from Liepāja, on the west coast, can spend more than a week on foot. They take part in night vigils, open-air Masses and a striking candlelit liturgy in front of the illuminated basilica. It is the largest religious gathering in the Baltic states.
For the rest of the year, Aglona is calm again. The sanctuary welcomes visitors in silence. It has a white basilica, a square, a spring whose water is considered miraculous and prayer gardens, all surrounded by Latgale's lakes, forests and fields. The village has also added attractions such as the popular Bread Museum, which shows the rural culture and dark rye bread of the region. It makes a good base for exploring the lake country and nearby Daugavpils.
Aglona has two sides that complement each other. One is the great pilgrimage shrine, full of religious history and shared emotion. The other is a quiet corner of eastern Latvia where faith, nature and Latgalian culture meet. Three hundred years after the Dominicans settled beside these lakes, Aglona is still a place where, every year, thousands of people find a reason to walk to the far end of the country.
