Church of Saint Lawrence, Religious monument in Kostelec, Czech Republic.

The Church of Saint Lawrence in Kostelec is a single-nave church with a three-sided presbytery supported by buttresses, built in the early Gothic style around 1300. A pointed portal from that period survives in the nave. The tower was added in the second half of the 16th century, reached by a spiral staircase from a nave annex; its present form dates from 1862. The church was rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century and is surrounded by a walled cemetery.

The church is a single-nave building with a three-sided presbytery and buttresses, built in early Gothic style around 1300; a pointed portal from that period survives. The tower was added in the second half of the 16th century, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century, and the tower took its present form in 1862. It has been protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic since 3 May 1958.

The village name Kostelec derives from the church, which belonged to the Bechyně archdeaconry and was under the patronage of the lords of Řeky and Jaroslavice. Renaissance tombstones of the Poněšický family of Poněšice remain inside, including the readable 1580 epitaph of Jan Poněšický. The church has been protected as a cultural monument since 3 May 1958.

The church stands in Kostelec, a village that is part of Hluboká nad Vltavou, surrounded by a walled cemetery; the village name itself comes from the church. The tower, rebuilt in 1862, is the landmark to aim for. The building is protected as a cultural monument, so visits are generally limited to the exterior and the cemetery.

The bell tower kept a single bell from 1565, 90 cm across and 75 cm tall, which received a new clapper in 1936. Two older bells were seized in the First World War, their replacements were taken in the Second. Until 1867 a separate bell house stood beside the church.