The project to build a modern shrine for
Baltic paganism was initiated and financed by Dagnis Čākurs, owner of the Liepkalni bakery chain. Čākurs explained that as he had grown older, he had become more interested in questions about the soul and mortality. As the Latvian people had supported his business over the years, he wanted to give something in return, and hoped to do so with a house for the national gods and Latvian folk culture. He attributed his interest in Latvian paganism to
Valdis Celms, an artist, author and leading member of the
Baltic neopagan organization
Latvijas Dievturu sadraudze (LDS). The Lokstene Shrine was constructed on an island owned by Čākurs and is named after the nearby Lokstene castle mound. It is leased by LDS, which began to use the building in the autumn of 2016, before the entire complex was finished. Anita Liepiņa of the literary magazine
Jaunā Gaita argued in 2017 that the building deserves to receive state support just like Christian churches receive support for maintenance. ==Architecture and design==