Devil of Gosupe

The only monument to the devil in Latvia - the "Gosupe" devil is located in Lizuma parish, Gulbene region. The author of the monument is Vilis Zvaigznītis, a writer and sculptor. The idea originated in 1953, when the author of the monument had lunch on the shores of Gosupe with his road construction colleagues and a legend about the devil of Gosupe is told. The story is about a devil who has never seen drinkers in particular: Gosupe's devil has almost dragged Rudgalvju Krustiņa to hell.

One of his colleagues recommends V.Zvaigznītis to create a sculpture of the devil, it was the first sculpture made of clay, but it had a short life. The idea of immortalizing the sculpture of the devil in stone arose a couple of years later - in 1955 a monument was erected from the land reclamation boulders.

There is a beautiful one-copy book about this event in Lizuma, illustrated with original watercolors by Varaidotis Galviņš from Lizumna (1931-1990).
In the 1990s and later, the devil's monument is damaged, but the young artist Kristiāns Brekte from Lizumna promises to restore it.


Creation of Gosupe Devil in Lizum, 20th century, 50s.
Vilhelms Zvaigznītis, the third author of the work to the right of the devil in the picture.

The list of information sources can be found here .