Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Renaissance Revival church in Bystřice, Czech Republic

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a wooden church built in 1896–1899 to a design by Albín Theodor Prokop. It has a single nave ending in a narrow three-sided presbytery, a square tower set into the nave with a spire roof, and dormer windows on the tower and nave walls. The roofs and walls are covered with shingles, and the beam ends and window frames are highlighted in colour.

Local Protestants built a wooden church here in 1587, replacing a bell tower of 1584; a special commission transferred it to Catholics on 21 March 1654. The decaying building was closed in 1893 and demolished after the last Mass on 24 January 1897. The present church was built in 1896–1899 to a design by Albín Theodor Prokop.

The church is a filial church of the parish of St Catherine in Vendryně. Its name comes from the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, after which a pilgrimage is held on the Sunday following that feast, a tradition documented in the 1679 visitation. The tower keeps a bell cast in 1584.

Information about services and visits is available through the local tourism office or parish administration in the village. As a wooden structure, interior access may be affected by weather conditions, so it is worth checking ahead.

The tower keeps the bell cast in 1584, the oldest surviving element from the Protestant church. The 1588 Renaissance triptych of the Crucifixion, with Christ, the Virgin Mary and St John, stands in the left side altar; the 1907 high altar imitates it.