Church of Saint John the Baptist, Renaissance church in Velké Losiny, Czech Republic
The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a single-nave late Renaissance building with a square tower set forward on the west and a polygonal east end, its vault buttressed outside. It was built in 1599–1603, probably by Antonio Thoma, and its facade was renewed between 2004 and 2016.
The first written mention of a church here dates from 1351; the wooden predecessor was demolished in 1599 and its timber reused for churches in Maršíkov, Žárová and Klepáčov. The present masonry church was built in 1599–1603, probably by Antonin Thoma, as a Lutheran church, and was taken over by the Catholic Church in 1624 during the Thirty Years' War. The presbytery was rebuilt in 1784 and the façade restored between 2004 and 2016.
The church was built for Lutheran worship, and its surviving galleries reflect that use; after 1624 it passed to the Roman Catholic Church, whose first priest was Franz Albani. The fourteen Stations of the Cross on the gallery parapets were painted by Prostějov painter Franz Anton Šebesta-Sebastiani.
The church stands in the centre of Velké Losiny, below Křížový vrch, with the Žerotín tomb chapel of the Holy Cross on its north side. The old cemetery around the church was closed in 1873, but gravestones remain set into the east and north walls of the nave and on the chapel. The facade was restored between 2004 and 2016.
The church appears on the Central List of Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic, underscoring its importance to national heritage. This designation ensures its preservation through specialized restoration and maintenance programs.
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