Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Religious monument in Újezd Svatého Kříže, Czech Republic.
The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a stone church in Újezd Svatého Kříže, built between the 1350s and 1380s. Its walls are of coursed rubble, with coarse sandstone used for carved architectural elements and for reinforcing the corners. A stepped-gable porch and a two-storey oratory with round windows were added in the Baroque period; the four-storey tower was completed in 1818.
The church and its sacristy were built between the 1350s and 1380s, with walls of broken stone and details cut from coarse-grained sandstone. A four-storey tower was added only in 1818, and after a fire in 1859 the church received historicist alterations and pseudo-Gothic furnishings. A Gothic window with tracery from the last quarter of the 14th century survives, walled up, on the south side.
The village and parish take their name, Újezd Svatého Kříže, from the church's dedication to the Finding of the Holy Cross. The building is a listed cultural monument of the Czech Republic. Its pseudo-Gothic furnishings date from the historicising repairs made after the fire of 1859.
A short gravel path leads to the church from the main road. The four-storey tower, completed in 1818, stands as the tallest point in Újezd Svatého Kříže and helps with orientation. Look for the baroque porch with a stepped gable and the first-floor oratory with round windows on the south side.
Look for the remains of painted illusionary ashlar in the window reveals of the nave and around the presbytery windows; traces also survive on the southwest and northwest corners. This medieval painted masonry, rediscovered during later work, is easy to miss from the path.
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