Kostel svatého Jakuba Většího (Srbeč) Church

St. Jacob the Greater Church in Serbia is a Roman Catholic Gothic temple from the 14th century. He's standing on a high rise in the eastern part of the village. The monument is remarkable by its original Gothic presbytery, a massive north tower and a combination of medieval elements with radical reconstructions from the late 19th century.

Ves Srbeč belonged to St. George's monastery in Prague in 1228. The temple was allegedly in its current place since 1350; the first written mention of it dates back to 29 January 1364. At that time, the town hall Jan z Landštejna was supposed to provide a vicar for building care. During Hussite wars in the region, the chalices ruled, while from the Catholic side claimed the right of Jaroslav Plichta z Žerotína.

The building available consists of three basic parts: western tripod, presbytery and tower. The oldest preserved part is a Gothic presbytery. It has a rectangular plan with five sides of a regular octagonal and is reinforced with two-stage supports. The western facade is dominated by a triangular-end risalite, lined with tiered support pillars with decorative fials. The entrance consists of a prefabricated plastered portal with nothing and a stone roof decorated with crabs. Above it is a four-sided window with red, blue and clear glass segments. Next to it are two combined windows with a three-flared element between them and at the highest point the risality of the glazed oculus. The side facade is divided by two-stage support pillars and combined windows with a round hole in nothing.

A rectangular sacristy is attached to the northern perimeter wall and a massive four-story tower with a square ground plan. The first three floors are unflattened, with an apparent connection of the masonry made of sandstone blocks, while the last floor is smoothly flattened. The construction is finished with an octave roof in the shape of a chamled needle. The boat and the presbytery cover the saddle roofs, the one through the presbytery is supplemented by a sandbox. At the top, the Gothic shield wall is separated from the quarry stone. Above the boat there is a carpentry binding with vertical columns and central binding, reinforced hamballs.

The interior of the tripod is symmetrically arranged; The main ship is twice the size of the other ship. The space is covered by cross arches seduced into four free-standing stone eight-sided pillars on expanding feet with profiled heads. In the western part there is a bunk circle with a richly carved railing. The presbytery separates a sharp triumphant arch from the ship. It's riddled with two arches, one of which is radiated with six ribs. These ribs come from tapered brackets and converge into two circular clamps with a plastic six-pointed star.

The tower is accessible through the entrance on the east side through a wall of 1.65 m thick The ground floor and the first floor are covered with cross vaults. On the first floor there is a sandstone portal with an even upper threshold, which leads to a segmentally sealed corridor in the perimeter wall. A wooden staircase leads to the second and third floors. The third floor contains massive carpenter binding of bell stools with two bells, the oldest of which dates back to 1516. The last level serves as a space for a clock machine.

Under the presbytery there is an inaccessible crypt in which the noble patrons of the temple are buried. Along its north wall are erected the tombs of Jetřich Reichle from Reich († 1575) and Adam Pear from March († 1581); the other one contains figural relief. A large composition of the Last Court is preserved on the south wall. The main wooden altar with triptych is decorated with fials, crabs and gilding; depicts John the Evangelist, St. James the Greater and St. John the Baptist.

The temple was originally surrounded by a cemetery with a boundary wall, from which only the lower part remained, serving today as a supporting wall near the sacristy. A radical reconstruction took place between 1877 and 1880. It was built by a western tripod, completed the upper floors of the tower and made by sacristy. All these parts were fitted with a new roof. Since 12 January 2004 the church has been filial to the parish of Nové Strašecí.

The monument is a valuable architectural complex in which development can be monitored from the 14th to the end of the 19th century. It is recommended to visitors especially for its authentic Gothic elements and unique noble tombs.