Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Renaissance church in Kralovice, Czech Republic.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is a single-nave parish church with a narrower, three-sided presbytery and a tower at its northeast corner topped by an onion dome. The presbytery, the north wall of the nave and the lower two storeys of the tower are Gothic, while the rest dates from the Renaissance rebuilding. The main and side facades are of exposed brick, and sgraffito on the presbytery and south chapel was renewed in 1894.

The church is first documented in 1250, when Pope Innocent IV confirmed it as property of the Cistercian monastery of Plasy. In 1575–1581 Florián Gryspek had the fortified Gothic church rebuilt in Renaissance form, probably to designs by Bonifác Wolmut, keeping the medieval presbytery and adding a south chapel with the family crypt.

The south chapel holds a wooden Renaissance epitaph of the Gryspeks from 1593, carved by Hans Bule of Regensburg, Samuel Braun of Kadaň and Hartwig of Wernigerode. The crypt below served as the family tomb until 1620; bodies were mummified by a ventilation system. Since 2008 the association Gryspek has cared for the church and tomb.

The church stands on a slight rise above the left bank of the Kralovice stream, with the baroque parish house from the early 18th century nearby. In front of the facade are a wooden cross, a cross stone among the trees and a statue of St John of Nepomuk moved to the presbytery in 1928.

The building displays characteristic sgraffito ornaments on its exterior surfaces, a decorative technique where layers of plaster are exposed to create patterns. This elaborate surface ornamentation is typical of the finest Renaissance work and catches the eye as you pass by.