Kostel svatého Jakuba Staršího (Vlkaneč) Church

The Church of Saint James the Greater stands in the middle of a cemetery at the northern end of the village green in Vlkanč in the Kutná Hora district. It is a single-nave oriented building with a medieval core, later modified in the Renaissance and Baroque styles. Together with the surrounding wall and two gates, it is protected as a cultural monument. Until the end of 2007, it was a parish church. After the merger of the local parish with the parish of Zbýšov in Čechách, it became a subsidiary church.

As a parish church, it is mentioned in the years 1352, 1361, and 1384. Its early Gothic core is even older, dating from around 1300, and has been preserved almost entirely in the external walls. Between 1590 and 1592, the church was expanded in the Renaissance style with a choir and the nave most likely received a vault at that time. Between 1706 and 1710, a tower was added to the western facade and a sacristy to the northern side of the choir.

The parish ceased to exist after 1620. In 1775, it was restored as an administrative office and in 1792 a parish priest was appointed again. At that time, Count Leopold Wilhelm of Kolowrat had a parish building and school built. Probably around the same time, the sacristy was raised by one story with an oratory. The mortuary on the northern side of the nave was likely built only in the twentieth century.

The facades of the nave and choir are smoothly plastered. Only the two-story prismatic tower with stucco pilasters at the corners and a pyramidal shingled roof is more ornate. The windows and main portal are semicircularly vaulted. Entry to the church is through the tower passage. The nave is covered by two bays of ribbed cross vaults and is separated from the choir by a semicircular triumphal arch.

The original furnishings from the eighteenth century, partly transferred from Sedlec Monastery, were replaced between 1907 and 1914 with new marble furnishings from Oberlam in Salzburg. It consists of an altar, baptismal font, and a Holy Sepulcher. The painting on the main altar depicts Saint James and in the background the church in Vlkanč. It is a modified copy of a damaged original by academic painter Adolf Russ from Hradec Králové. In 1977, the interior was renovated according to a design by architect Naděžda Zachardová and painter Bohumil Hartman.

Of four bells, only one has survived, from 1592. It has a diameter of 70 centimeters and bears the inscription: This bell was cast to the honor and glory of God in the year of our Lord 1592. Two other bells were requisitioned in 1916. One from 1590 read: Watch and pray, for you do not know the day nor the hour. On the other it said: This bell was made so that people would know when to gather for God's word.