Dobele Evangelical Lutheran Church

The first Christian church in Dobele was built in a medieval castle ^[2] in the 14th century, and more or less continued to serve its inhabitants until the 17th century. Nevertheless, the town around the castle continued to expand, and soon the need arose to build a new church.

Historically, it is believed that the first stone in the foundation of the church was laid in 1495 by order of the master of the Livonian Order, Walter von Plettenberg . It is now impossible to reliably reproduce how the church looked in those days. Since then, the church building has been rebuilt many times, and it finally acquired its modern look in 1907.

Clock

In 1908, a clockwork and a four-sided tower dial were installed in the church tower. These watches were produced at a factory in Berlin , and served as a gift to the church from the wife of the Dobele postmaster , Emilia Schiffer , and today, 107 years later, they continue to accurately show the time.

Authority

In 1835, the master organist Karl Peter Otto Herman ( Latvian Kārlis Pēteris Otto Hermanis ) completed the construction of the church organ, in 1864 the organ was rebuilt by him, and in 1908 it was increased to 43 registers by the Latvian organ builder Janis Betins ( Latvian. Jānis Bētiņš ) ^[3] .

Bell

At the beginning of the 19th century, three bells were also installed in the tower, but during the First World War they were evacuated to Russia and they disappeared. The new bell was cast in Bochum , Germany , and installed in the tower in 1927. The motto of the bell: “Awaken. Call on. Calm down. ”( Latvian. Modini. Mudini. Mierini. ) ^[4] .

Art objects

The church has unique pieces of art: an epitaph to the head of the Dobele castle, Philippe Drahenfels ( Latvian. Filips Drahenfels ), created by the Riga artist Berent Bodeker , the altar painting “Golgotha”, made by the Yelgava artist E. Kipert ( Latvian. E. Kīperts ), a massive granite candlestick made in the form of the Holy Grail (a gift from a Latvian lawyer and native Dobele Andris Grutups ), the base of the font in the form of three angels, carved from a single piece of wood (XVIII century), etc. ^[five]

As of 2015, services are held in the church every Sunday, at 10:00, and on holidays. So, the ringing of the church bell can be heard every Saturday, at 18:00.