Church of Saint James the Greater in Kněževes, Roman Catholic church in Kněževes, Czech Republic

The Church of Saint James the Greater in Kněževes is a single-nave Baroque church built in 1721 to plans probably by František Ignác Prée for Count Jan Josef of Valdštejn. It has a square presbytery with a semicircular apse, a tower with an octagonal lantern dome on the north side, and a nave of 20.1 by 8.9 metres under three bays of barrel vaulting.

A parish church was first documented in Kněževes in 1327, when it was fortified; part of its moat survives. The original building burned down in 1718, leaving only the tower with its spiral staircase. Count Jan Josef of Valdštejn had a new Baroque church built on the site in 1721, probably to plans by František Ignác Prée. It remained the parish church until 31 December 2003 and has since been a filial church of the Petrovice parish.

The church is the filial church of the Petrovice u Rakovníka parish, not an independent parish since 31 December 2003. Its furnishings carry local names: the side altars are dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Wenceslas, the latter with a painting by Josef Vojtěch Hellich, and a fourth Neo-Romanesque altar honours Saint Anne.

The church stands on Václavské náměstí in the centre of Kněževes, in a park-like area of the former cemetery whose three sides are bounded by a water ditch. The single-nave building with a square presbytery and a tower on its north side is a filial church of the Petrovice u Rakovníka parish, so services are not held here regularly; check locally before planning a visit.

The church has been a filial church of the Petrovice u Rakovníka parish since 1 January 2004, not an active parish church; until 31 December 2003 it was the parish church. The tower with its spiral staircase survived the 1718 fire that destroyed the earlier building, and the grounds of the former cemetery are still bounded on three sides by a water ditch.