Church of Saint John the Baptist, Baroque church in Lysá nad Labem, Czech Republic.
The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a baroque parish church on Bedřich Hrozný Square in Lysá nad Labem, built in the first half of the 18th century to a design by František Maxmilián Kaňka, with Anselmo Lurago involved in its completion. A perimeter wall from 1741, also by Lurago, encircles the church and carries statues of saints, church fathers, evangelists and archangels carved from fine-grained sandstone.
The Baroque church was built in the first half of the 18th century to a design by František Maxmilián Kaňka, with Anselmo Lurago taking part in its completion. It replaced an earlier Gothic parish church of the same dedication, which stood further east on the square and was demolished in 1879.
The church is dedicated to the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and its parish status ties it to the Roman Catholic parish of Lysá nad Labem. The sandstone statues on the enclosing wall, carved for a 1741 wall by Anselmo Lurago, depict church fathers, evangelists, archangels and saints.
The church sits on the main square and is easily accessible on foot from town center locations. Regular services are held, and visitors should check ahead if planning to enter outside scheduled worship times.
The sandstone statues on the churchyard wall, carved from fine-grained sandstone, are the subject of a 2015 study by Kateřina Adamcová titled "When Pedestals Tell Stories", which reads their inscriptions and attributes.
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