Kostel svatého Jakuba (Kasejovice) Church

The Church of Saint James the Greater is the parish church in Kasejovice in the Plzeň region. It stands in the northern part of the town, on the highest point of an irregularly shaped square, and naturally dominates the entire surrounding area. It is surrounded by a cemetery with a wall of irregular shape. The church has been a cultural monument since nineteen sixty-three.

It is documented in writing from the year thirteen fifty-six, but experts place its origin around the year twelve seventy. Kasejovice then belonged to Lord Zdeslav, an ancestor of Sezema and Protiva from Frymburk. His family coat of arms featured a donkey's head on a golden shield. According to historical sources, he decided to build the church only towards the end of his life. The church provided the locals with permanent spiritual care and brought prestige to its builder.

Why the church was dedicated precisely to Saint James is uncertain. One hypothesis connects it to gold mining and panning. Saint James was indeed the patron not only of pilgrims but also of miners. Gold had been mined in the Kasejovice area since prehistoric times, and a gold rush broke out there in the fourteenth century.

The church was damaged by fires several times, the worst one coming in seventeen ninety-one. The originally early Gothic structure was most transformed by Baroque reconstruction in the early eighteenth century. Another major renovation took place in seventeen ninety-seven. Smaller ones followed in eighteen fifty-six, eighteen sixty-eight, and eighteen ninety-two, and then again in nineteen thirteen and nineteen thirty-six. The church was elevated to a deanery in eighteen ninety-seven. Records have been kept here continuously since sixteen forty-six.

The church consists of a rectangular nave with a flat ceiling and an almost square presbytery, separated by a massive triumphal arch. The presbytery has a Gothic cross vault with decorated corbels and a circular boss with floral motifs. The most valuable Gothic element is the richly decorated portal of the main entrance. Its columns bear capitals with vine leaves. The prismatic tower served among other purposes for defense. In eighteen ninety-two, another story was added to it for a clock.

A granite staircase leads to the main entrance. On its sides, two small chapels are built into the cemetery wall. In the year seventeen twenty-five, there were already wayside shrines on their site, and the chapels received their current form in eighteen seventy-eight. One contains a crucifix, the other a stone statue of Saint Anthony of Padua.

The organ was built in seventeen fifty-six by organ builder Adalbert Schreyer from Kuks. The Rococo altars date from around seventeen seventy. The painting of Saint James on the main altar was painted in eighteen seventy-three by the Písek painter Václav Šebele. The Stations of the Cross were created in eighteen ninety-three by Bedřich Kamarýt. In nineteen zero five, a damaged side altar of Saint John of Nepomuk was replaced with a new Neo-Gothic altar with statues of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.

In nineteen sixty-five, director Zdeněk Podskalský filmed scenes of the film White Lady here.