Church of Saint Matthew, Catholic church in Křištín, Czech Republic

The Church of Saint Matthew is a single-nave Gothic church with a polygonal presbytery in the centre of Křištín, enclosed by a stone wall entered from the south. The presbytery has one bay with a ribbed cross vault and is joined to the nave by a triumphal arch; four pointed windows sit between lowered buttresses outside. A small south porch keeps an early Gothic portal with cylindrical column bases and smooth capitals.

The Church of Saint Matthew is first mentioned in 1352. Its nave dates from the last quarter of the 13th century, and the rib-vaulted presbytery from the mid-14th century. In the 16th century, wall paintings were added to the presbytery and triumphal arch. Baroque modifications in the second half of the 18th century rebuilt the roof truss, nave ceiling and windows; the gallery followed in the 19th century and the south porch around 1900.

The village of Křištín belonged in the 15th and 16th centuries to the Střeziměřští z Lub family, and the church of Saint Matthew is first recorded in 1352. Wall paintings from the 16th century cover the presbytery and the triumphal arch, a detail a visitor can still look for inside.

The church stands in the middle of Křištín, enclosed by a stone wall broken by an entrance on the south side. The south porch, built around 1900, shelters an early Gothic portal whose cylindrical column bases with vertical grooves and plain capitals are still visible. The east section of the wall was altered in the 20th century.

The early Gothic south portal, preserved inside the later south porch, still shows the cylindrical column bases with vertical grooves and plain capitals. The porch itself was built around 1900, so the portal is the oldest carved detail a visitor can see on the exterior.