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The Typology of Jesuit Brick-Built Twin-Tower Churches in the Territory of Southern Latvia

Summary/Abstract: Many Catholic spiritual orders, the missionaries of Societas Jesu among them, have left significant imprints in the heritage of Latvia's art and enriched the region's culture with original features. The followers of this religious movement were active in the territory of Latvia since the late 16th century under the auspices of the province of Lithuania. Consequently, thanks to the advantage of the political situation and the backing of patrons, three churches of significant size and architectural qualities were built at the end of the 17th and during the 18th century: Skaistkalne (1692), Daugavpils (1737-1747), and Ilūkste (1754-1769) as well as a chain of other smaller ones. Unfortunately, in the context of political history, we can see not only the birth of sacred buildings but also their tragic fate - the various wars had major and irreversible effects on this part of Latvia's cultural heritage. During the Second World War the Skaistkalne church lost its Baroque-shaped towers. Nevertheless, the edifice today still speaks to us as a monument of unique qualities. The church at Ilūkste was damaged during the First World War but the Daugavpils church, as mentioned earlier suffered in the next war. The ruins of both buildings could be seen until the 1950s when they were completely demolished. The common feature of all three objects is that they were inspired by one religious organization and built in a comparatively short period of time; they are also of the same architectonic type - three-aisled churches whose main facade was marked by two towers. However the churches were constructed differenttly - the Skaistkalne and Ilūkste churches were basilicas, whereas the Daugavpils church was a hall type of building. A detailed analysis of the plans of the buildings and careful examination of the individual features (main facade, side walls, apse, interior) as well as the decorative elements, leads to the conclusion that though all three objects are of the same architectonic type, they are completely different in their construction and arrangement. In the context of the Societas Jesu movement the question arises about a Jesuit style: does the language of architectonic forms allow us to ascertain some features characteristic of this order? The term "Jesuit style" was first used in the first half of the 19th century. As early as in 1843 the term jesuitenstil started appearing in German encyclopaedias, where it referred to the Jesuits' excessive use of ornamentation and illusion to manipulate the masses. Later writers, who were willing to express their opinion about these questions, were driven perhaps not by hatred, but by the sustained thought, that Jesuit art had some distinguished recognizable style. In parallel, publications based on the studies of monuments appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, which questioned the existence of this style. In reality, the Society's architecture demonstrated a great variery of stylistic features.

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