kostel svatého Petra a Pavla v Kralovicích Church

The church of St. Peter and Paul in Kralovice stands as one of the most remarkable parish temples of Central Bohemia. It is a Gothic building with renaissance adjustments, which experts consider to be the first free-standing church with Pilaster Order to arise after the period of Gothic in Central Europe. Its origin dates back to the Middle Ages - for the first time the church referred to it in documents already in 1250, when the papal Legate Innocencius IV confirmed it as part of the property of the Pláské Cistencian monastery.

Today's form of church was formed mainly during the Renaissance. From 1575 to 1581, the wealthy lawyer Florián Gryspek had the temple rebuilt from the Gothic fortified church to the Renaissance form, probably according to the designs of the builder Bonifác Wolmut. Gryspek added a large chapel to the south side of the church to serve as the family tomb of his family. The old Gothic temple managed to preserve the original presbytery.

The construction shows the readers the layering of its history. The presbytery, the north side of the ship and the lower floors of the prism tower remained Gothic, the rest are Renaissance. The church has one large rectangular boat and a narrower presbytery closed tripod with supporting pillars. The ground floor is surrounded by blind arcades over which broken gothic windows stand. The facade is walled from brick and originally decorated with sgraffiti which was restored in the 19th century. The tower bears a distinctive onion pit, while the western portal of украuje Tuscan columns. The old sun clock was preserved between the south side's circular windows.

The inside of the church boasts a modest but quality mobility. In the presbytery there is a Baroque wooden altar with statues of the patrons of Peter and Paul, supplemented by a medieval sculpture jewel - an excellent sculpture of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary from the beginning of the 16th century. On the ring there are functional baroque organ from 1689, decorated with angel carvings, which come from a plastic church. The pulpit is decorated with a tower wall.

The most unique element - the tomb of the Gryspeks - has come to an unusual glory. In the crypt beneath the southern chapel, members of the genus were buried until 1620, with their bodies naturally mummified by a sophisticated ventilation system. After the tomb was closed, it was protected during the Thirty Years' War. When the Abbot Kryštof Tengler reopened it in 1666, he let the tin caskets be drawn and used on the organ. This gave rise to a wave of interest for the curious who gradually destroyed the mummy. In 1889, Patron Paulina Metternich had new glass coffins made, thanks to which today 17 members of the Gryspek family, including Florian and his wife Rosina, are preserved. Even Florian's right shoe is today located at the Footwear Museum in Zlin.

The church underwent extensive renewal in the 1990s - 2,970 000 crowns were exhausted in the planes 1995 to 2014. Since 2008, the Gryspek Temple and tomb have been under the care of the Gryspek Association. In October 2019 the memorial of Florián Gryspek was discovered here and the local square was renamed in his honor. The church remains a living testament to Gothic and Renaissance architecture, and fascinating as a depository of unique family history.