Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary of Sarkaņi

It is a popular pilgrimage site. The stone church, built in 1860, is famous for its icon of the Virgin Mary, which has healing powers.
The first known Catholic Church in Sarkani has been a small wooden building built at the end of the 17th century or at the beginning of the 18th century. The altar of this church contained an image of the Virgin Mary painted on wood and dressed in silver, made in the 15th and 16th centuries.
As early as 1830, the dean Anton Latkovskis began to take care of the construction of a new church in Sarkaņi. In his will, dedicating his property to his relatives, he emphasized that it was their duty to complete the construction of the church. Thanks to the funds left by the dean, as well as donations from parishioners, the church was built. In 1897, Bishop F. Simons consecrated it (dedicated) to the Virgin Mary. The Sarkaņi church is a very simple quadrangular boulder building with a small square tower above the roof at the entrance. The construction of a semicircular altarpiece. Eclecticism with an interpretation of regional Gothic and Romanesque styles. Planning - hall type with a choir part (separated by three arches, above which a balcony). Interiors - classicist style forms, the central altar is three-part in neo-Gothic forms. There is a stone bell tower near the church – a square pantheon on eight brick columns, covered with arches and a quadrangular roof. The icon inherited from the old church – Our Lady of the Miracle Worker in a silver robe – was also placed in the new church altar. There is a story about the icon of Our Lady of Sarkaņi: in the place where the Sarkaņi Church is now located, in ancient times there was a large old oak tree, in its branches one morning this icon was found, then the people of the area began to pray to it and also built a church.
Sarkaņi is considered one of the oldest shrines of the Mother of God in Latgale. Since the Sarkaņi parish is located relatively close to both Rēzekne and Ludza, it is possible that initially the Jesuits worked here, and later the Dominicans. After that, secular priests took over its care. (Kūkoja, 1999)