Aizpute Baptist Church

Kuldīgas ielā 17, Aizpute

+371 26336783

The Aizpute Baptist Congregation was founded in 1869. The first pastor, who later became the bishop of the Baptist congregations of Latvia, was Ādams Gertners, who was repeatedly imprisoned in Aizpute and also in Kuldīga.

The first church building was constructed in 1884. However, eight years later, in 1892, under the pretext that the Baptist church was too close to the Orthodox church, the Tsarist administration ordered the demolition of the structure. In 1893, the congregation decided to purchase a plot of land at 17 Kuldīgas Street for 750 rubles. In the same year, the second church was built. This building served the congregation until March 21, 1937, when it was destroyed by fire on Palm Sunday evening. It was then decided to collect funds for the construction of a new church. The congregation built its third church in just 11 months according to a design by Baltic German architect Aleksandrs Šmēlings. This new church was consecrated at Christmas in 1939. The congregation continued its activities through both World Wars. From 1949 to 1990, the Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Aizpute also held services in the Baptist church, as the Soviet authorities had confiscated their premises for gatherings.

In this building, composer Pēteris Vasks was born and spent his childhood in the family of Baptist pastor Arvīds Vasks.