Church of Saint John the Baptist, Gothic church in Město, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist stands in Smetanovy sady by Jánská street in Opava. It was built as a three-nave hall church with three bays per nave and a narrower five-sided vaulted presbytery with pointed windows and tufa tracery. Baroque work of the early 18th century walled in the Gothic pillars and replaced the roof-ridge bell turret with a tower behind the gable; the present wooden tower is a post-war reconstruction.
Duke Nicholas II of Opava founded a hospital and St Nicholas chapel in the 1330s; two decades later he entrusted them to the Knights Hospitaller, who three years after that also received the newly built church dedicated to St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist. The order's commandery was established by 1377. After fires in 1431, 1461 and 1689, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style in the early 18th century; it was heavily damaged in April 1945 and its wooden tower is a post-war reconstruction.
The double dedication to John the Baptist and John the Evangelist comes from the Johannite (Maltese) Order, which took over the church three years after receiving the hospital of St Nicholas from Duke Nicholas II in the 14th century. Since 2021 the association Kostel sv. Janů has adopted the building, and concerts are held here, including with the Slunovrat festival.
The church stands in Smetanovy sady by Jánská street, in the Město district of Opava. Regular services stopped around 2010 and the building was closed for a time; since 2021 the association Kostel sv. Janů has cared for it. A monthly service is planned for the first Sunday of each month at 11:00, celebrated by military chaplain Kamil Vícha.
The wooden tower on the church is a post-war reconstruction that does not match the historical appearance; the wartime damage destroyed the tower built by builder Julius Ludwall at the end of the 19th century. In the outdoor niche stands a statue of St. John of Nepomuk from the first quarter of the 18th century, moved here from near the bridge to Kateřinky in the 1950s.
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