Church of Saint John the Baptist, Church building in Čechy pod Kosířem, Czech Republic

The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a baroque-style church building with long, narrow proportions and a gently curved wooden ceiling. A tall tower topped with a pyramid-shaped roof and cross rises above the main structure, featuring clock faces on all sides.

The first church stood on a rise near the old fortress in the castle park until the 18th century. As it no longer accommodated the growing number of parishioners, construction of a new church began in 1781 on the site of the parish threshing floors, initiated by parish priest Jan Červinka and designed by Jan Petr Ceroni. It was completed in 1794 and consecrated to Saint John the Baptist.

The church keeps furnishings brought from dissolved Olomouc institutions: the altarpiece, mensa, pulpit and pews came from the former St Clare convent, the side altars and pews from the Mother of God church. Local native Jan Hunčovský donated the side-altar paintings, and Count August Silva-Tarouca painted the image of St Leopold under the choir.

The church stands in the village centre, with the Baroque statues of Saints Peter and Paul on tall stone pedestals in front of the facade. The tower clock and the mission cross of 1854 are easy to spot from outside. The building is a protected cultural monument, so visits focus on the exterior and the immediate surroundings.

The main altar painting of the Baptism of Jesus is by the Viennese painter F. A. Maulbertsch. Above the font hangs an unsigned painting of the Mother of God with two cherubs, attributed to Josef Mánes. The Silva-Tarouca crypt beneath the church was emptied in 1923, when groundwater forced the remains into a new tomb in the castle park.