Kostel svatého Jiljí v Milevsku Church

Kostel svatého Jiljí v Milevsku is the cemetery temple of the Romanesque style, which is still in the middle of the present cemetery, in the vicinity of the Milev monastery. It is one of the cultural monuments of the Písek district and its history reflects eight centuries of development of the Czech Middle Ages.

The original Romanesque building was created in the last third of the 12th century as a single-boat temple with an eastern rectangular conclusion, which measured 19.7 times 9 meters. The complex included a massive tower building with decorated Romanesque windows. On the first floor of the tower there was an empora - an elevated bleachers, where the great leader of the building - Jiří z Milevska - entered a staircase in the thickness of masonry. He followed the services from here. Archaeological surveys of Antonín Hejn and building historical study of Dobroslav Kisbal confirmed this dating. It is assumed that Jiří's residence from Milevska was located near the church, as similar property churches in Central Bohemia always stood in the area of the Grand Mansions.

The position of the church changed when the monastery was founded. Saint Jilji became a parish temple for the believers, while the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in the monastery area served the beacons. Around 1400, the church underwent significant Gothic reconstruction. A large part of the original Romanesque building was demolished, but the presbyterium acquired an architecturally exceptional Gothic network vault of the Milevsky type. These arches were later valued so much that in 1407 the temple of St. Vitus was built in Český Krumlov according to its pattern. The church was originally designed to build a double boat with a number of pillars, but eventually it remained flat-ceiling. The ceiling was dendrochronologically dated to 1445-1446.

The outside buildings were degraded over time. In 1785, the parochial function was transferred to the Church of the Virgin Mary and the church began to decay. For security reasons, long years were closed until 1883 when the Strahov Abbot Zikmund Antonín Stará took care of his renewal. The current tower - bell tower - with rectangular ground plan made of granite blocks and two rows of Romanesque windows came from the oldest time.

In the 1980s, the church was extensively modified because it became a funeral hall. The architecture in its current form measures over 23 metres in length, over 11 metres in width and at the highest point reaches a height of 15,5 metres. Further archaeological research and restoration of the interior has been ongoing since 2018. This is where secret spaces were discovered in the power of the north wall - a six-metre corridor leading to a medieval vault of 2.5 times 2.2 times 1.25 meters. In the vault were found remnants of early medieval reliquary containing gold and silver crosses, gold plate with embossed cross and inscription IR (Jesus Rex) and part of iron nail with gold plated cross (21 carats). Part of the reliquary wood was dated radiocarbon to 1290-1394 (larch) and to 3838-416 (oak). Archaeologists assume it's a very old relic related to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The cemetery around the church was last extended in 1899 when it was also consecrated. Today, the temple serves as a funeral hall as well as as as a testament to fundamental changes in the history of Czech architecture, from the Romanesque age to the Gothic era to the restoration in the modern era.