kostel svatého Jakuba Většího (Mezilesí) Church

The Church of St. Jacob the Greater in Mezilesí is one of the cultural monuments of the Czech Republic and is also composed of a stone cross standing by the building. It is a filial church of the Roman Catholic parish Lukavec, who still cares for him.

The origin of the church goes deep into the Middle Ages. His first written mention dates back to 1384, when he is listed as a parish church. The construction was built in an early Gothic style, whose characters he still retains. Around the church there used to be a cemetery where many human destinies were lined in the past. The history of the construction is not linear - it has required major modifications over the centuries. In the second half of the 16th century, the church passed through the first of the larger reconstruction, followed by another significant reconstruction in the 19th century. These interventions have contributed to today's form of construction and reflect the development of architectural trends in their time.

The architecture of the church speaks of its long existence as well as the modifications it has undergone. The building is situated on a high ground and is located near the northwest edge of the village indolent, thus retaining the traditional location of the village church. Its structure is simple - it has a single temple ship, which is supplemented by a presbytery closed triboc with a valence vault with lunettes. With this solution of the presbytery, the church retains the Gothic elements of its origin. Other parts of the building developed according to the needs of liturgy - the sacristy is equipped with a cross vault.

The inner facility of the church speaks of his fate in later years. While the original Gothic architecture remained preserved, the interior was gradually changing. The interior equipment is baroque, which corresponds to the reconstruction from the 16th and the following century. The most significant element is the main altar, whose appearance belongs to the rococo style. The painting on this altar dates back to the second half of the 19th century; His author is supposed to be Bedřich Kamarít, whose name is linked to Czech sacral painting. In the temple ship there is a headstone from 1766, which is a testament to the form of the church and life of the parish during centuries of spending these spaces.

The Church of St. Jacob the Greater represents the continuity of Czech spiritual life from the late Middle Ages to the present time. The visitor may not find the disillusioned glare of the great cathedrals here, but it is this village scale, the organic expansion of the building and the layering of styles that creates the charm of the place. The charming location on the elevated terrain, the Gothic foundations enacted with baroque filling and the monuments stored in its spaces make the interforest church an interesting stop for anyone interested in Czech sacral architecture and its fates.