Kostel svatého Jana Křtitele (Kostelec) Church

The supreme Gothic church of St. John the Baptist is an important landscape as well as the municipality of Kostelec, located in Tachov district near Kladrub. The church is also remarkable for many of its original preserved structures despite later Baroque reconstruction and modifications in the 19th century.

St. John the Baptist Church is a Gothic church that was built in the 14th century. The existence of the Kostelec settlement is documented by the written sources until 1352, when the municipality is mentioned as part of the Horshovotín dean. The construction of the church of St. John the Baptist or rather of his presbytery dates back to 1356 according to the inscription on the inscription above the sanctuary found in the presbytery of the church. On the first line it is written here in the original: "A. D. M. DDD L VI," i.e. in the Czech language: "The year of the Lord 1356." The second and third lines offer the inscription: "FVMVS ET CVM HONOR THEODORICVS MPI," that is, in translation: "We have been and honor Theodoric... MPI probably stands for short for manupieri. That this work was done by his hand / at his expense.

Since the 14th century they have owned the right to the church of St. John the Baptist of the Kladrub Abbot. After Hussite wars, the church went under the administration of secular feudals and the monastery was returned only in the 16th century. It cannot be said with certainty whether the presbytery and the ship of the same age or whether the ship of the church is older. The same period as the presbytery includes the vault of the presbytery, the backrest, the portal to the sacristy, the windows, the seats and the niche in the southeast wall of the end. Together, the eastern wall of the ship or part of it with a winning arch was also built. The portal in the south wall of the ship is probably contemporary with the construction of the presbytery.

There are doubts about the age of the ship itself because of the absence of a volcano that the ship lacks from the presbytery. The different age is also indicated by the unusual surface plan shape of the ship and a half-circle sealed window, which is walled in the south wall of the ship. It is also possible that only part of the circumferential wall of the ship, such as the southern wall of the ship, is older. The ship was flat-ceiling, as indicated by the plaster over the Fabion.

Apparently, with little time distance, the presbytery was built from the north side of the sacristy, encapsulated by the rib arch. The wall tower within the first floor is hypothetically also medieval. The Baroque reconstruction took place around the middle of the 18th century. The ship's windows have been modified, a new roof has been erected, a beam ceiling has been made with a forefront fold and a western shield. Next, a hall was built at the west wall of the ship. The entrances, the ceiling, the shields and the cross are contemporary. An eastern entrance to the tower was set up or modified. Perhaps a staircase tower was added to the church tower at this time.

The implementation of further adjustments probably falls within the first quarter of the 19th century. They touched the church tower. The second and third floors of the tower were built, the original bell stool, the tower and window of the third floor. On the ground floor of the tower / sacristii the window was rebuilt and the walls were reinforced in the corners by two backrest. In the last row was erected the cross over the presbytery and modified the circle in the main ship of the church.

During the 21st century, the church was renovated with facades, door and window openings, stained glass and a number of historical, restoration and archaeological research in the church itself and its immediate surroundings. All these works took place on the demand of the municipality Kostelec, which has owned the building since 2005, when it was transferred free of charge to its administration since the Pilsen diocese. In 2010, a restoration survey took place. In 2016 from May to August, the stained glass of Stage 2 was restored, i.e. the stained glass of presbytery and sacristy. In 2017, an archaeological probe took place before entering the attic of the hall and the circle, around the main entrance to the main ship, outside the north wall of the main ship and near the northeast corner of the main ship. In 2024 the main portal to the main ship would be restored. In 2025, there was a restoration survey of stone ribs, internal plaster and their surface finish in the sacristy.

The church tower standing on an approximately square floor plan, which shares with the sacristy, is the dominant of the whole church. The entrance to the sacristy is located in the middle of the east wall of the tower, from where it enters the presbytery and the main ship of the church with the hall. The door is two-wing open towards the exterior, the right wing is active and the left passive. They are placed in a simple stone lining on four belt hinges (each wing on two). Two granite stairs lead to the door.

The entrance wings to the sacristy were carried out together with others in 2024 according to the design by Ing. J. Forrít from wooden vertically laid fossils connected to pen and groove, in the middle there is a profiled mouth from both sides gouged. The wadding of the door is made of forged iron and topped by blackening, as is apparent from the working and shape of the belt hinges, handrails and rotations with its swivel cap.

Above the door opening of the sacristy there is simply a profiled ledge with a flat handle in the width of the stone lining of the door. It is equipped with topside plating. On the right side of the door, in the corner defined by the east wall of the tower and the north wall of the presbytery there is a stonewalled granite draught. He's the only one at the church.

There's only one window in the north side of the sacristy. It is a smaller, nimble window with one right-handed edge. In front of the window filler there is a subtile intertwined grate with three vertical and five horizontal iron bars, surface-treated black. The window itself is divided into crosses. The lower two oblong wings are each further divided by a pair of horizontal horizons. The upper wings are separated from the lower ones by the handlebar and the shape of the window frame and the frame of the two wings copying the sharp arches of the upper arms is similarly to the lower ones further horizontally divided by one transverse.

The tower's edge is reinforced like the presbytery. Both restraints are graduated and ended with a plinth. Unlike presbytery's restraints, however, they are wider and without sight bobsleigh produced in the color of plaster.

On all four sides of the tower are visible sharp windows with straight panes in the level of bell stool. Their filling is a typical window with several wooden lamels and at the top, where the window fluently passes into a pivot arch is created in the wooden panel of the window a hole in the shape of a pivot triplet. The window is then equipped with a simply profiled parapet ledge from the upper side, equipped with metal plating.

The weight of the tower closes a richer crown ledge. The roof is currently tin-coloured, red, when it passes from a square plan in a slight inclination to an ocular steep tower roof. In the roof planes are then broken four skylights, each from one side of the tower. It's ended by a tip or a jade. At the bottom of the hippopotamus there is a decorative poppy and the whole hippopotamus is grafted to the crunch

The church of St. John the Baptist is remarkable for its architecture and preserved elements from the 14th century. It is an important landscape and municipal dominant of the municipality Kostelec. The church is also important for its Baroque reconstruction and later modifications in the 19th century. Today the church is under the administration of the village Kostelec and is currently renovated.