Roman Catholic Church of the Blessed Virgin Maria in Kaunata

The current stone church was built on the site of a wooden church that burned down in 1850. The church houses the icon “Mary Visiting Saint Elizabeth”.

There are different opinions about the time of the construction of the first church in Kaunata. According to the archive of the governor of Vitebsk, it was built in 1697, Gustav Manteufel writes that it was built in 1715, according to other sources, the first church in Kaunata, which later burned down, was built by the manor house owner Soltāns in 1702. It is known that the current stone church was built in 1850 by the landowner Zuzanna Druva on the site of the burned down wooden church. In the same year, on September 10, the church was consecrated in honor of the Virgin Mary.

The main altar of the Kaunata Church is supported by six massive stone columns. The altarpiece, which depicts the meeting of the Virgin Mary and St. Elizabeth, is currently undergoing restoration in Riga. According to art historians, this work by an unknown author belongs to the collection of the most professionally valuable examples of the 19th century heritage of Latgale painting.

The Kaunata parish or mission point has existed since 1690. At first, it was served by missionary Jesuits from Daugavpils, Izvalta, and Rēzekne; this mission was called the Hilzeni mission, because the noblemen Hilzeni took care of the maintenance of the missionaries. In 1743, the Viļaka and Bratislava counties acquired a permanent missionary for Kaunata. In 1772, 2 permanent missionaries - Jesuits - were already working in Kaunata. In 1777, the Jesuit mission ended its activities in Kaunata.
During the time of Stanislavs Kimbras (1901–1906), a parish rectory was built. Now the parish rectory is used in the residential house built in 1955 by Dean I. Brokas in the church garden.