Kostel svatého Filipa a Jakuba (Lukavice) Church

The Church of Saint Philip and James in Lukavici is a Roman Catholic subsidiary church. Its history stretches back to the Middle Ages. Already in the years 1344 to 1350, Lukavici appears in the list of parishes. Since 1958, the church has been protected as a cultural monument.

The core of the structure is a small Gothic church, which has survived to this day as the presbytery. Other parts were gradually added to it. Reconstructions took place in 1639, 1705, and 1721, and the tower was modified in 1878. Thus a rural single-nave church was created, originally late Renaissance and later completed in the Baroque style. The façade is dominated by a massive tower with a bell-shaped cupola. The building is among the valuable examples of regional Baroque sacred architecture from the early eighteenth century.

From 1639 to 1726, the church served as a parish church. The rectory was moved here from Orlice, which had been dissolved in 1627. In the twentieth century, the church underwent several modifications. In 1936, it was repaired from the outside, and in 1974, new pews were installed during the interior renovation. Burials at the old cemetery by the church ceased in 1968, when a new cemetery was consecrated.

The most remarkable part of the interior is the main altar, carved presumably in 1721. Its carving depicts a grapevine. On either side of the altarpiece of Saint Philip and James by Jan Umlauff are reliefs of busts of apostles in the branches of this vine. The original tabernacle takes the form of a globe. The pulpit dates from 1670 to 1680. Probably from the same period are two decoratively painted recesses. They were discovered in 1942 during the painting of the church interior and restoration of the main altar.

On the side altars are paintings of Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Apollonia. The Stations of the Cross paintings were created in 1827 by the Viennese painter Tlath. In the church there is also a wooden tablet, which probably commemorates the plague of the sixteenth century.

The church is also a place of final rest. In front of the altar is a grave where some of the owners of the Kyšperk estates were buried. In front of the small left altar is a crypt of Lukavici rectors. The cross on the right side of the church was created by Lukavici native, sculptor Jan Dušek. He lived from 1880 to 1949 and worked as a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Chrudimi.