Catholic church Ikskile and statue of Saint Meinhard

To honour the memory of the first Archbishop of Latvia, in September 24, 2010 a statue of Saint Meinhard was erected by the motorway Rīga-Daugavpils. It is 5.72 m high.
Meinhard (Meinardus), est. 1125-1196, first Livonian bishop, holy man. Meinhard arrived in Daugavgrīva sometime after 1163. A few years before 1184, Meinhard, with the permission of the Prince of Polotsk, began preaching Christianity to the Daugavgriva Livonians, moved to Ikskile, where he built a church and, with the help of Visby millstone cutters, also a castle and another castle on Martinsala in 1187. In 1186 Hartwig II, the Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, promoted him to the Livonian Bishop in Ikšķile and ordained him in the Bremen church. Meinhard died in Ikskile and was buried there. At the end of the 14th century, Meinhard’s remains were brought to the Riga Cathedral, where he also received a statue.