Church of Saint John the Baptist

The Church of St. John the Baptist in Kolín is an Orthodox church located in the Czech town of Kolín, in the Central Bohemian Region. Despite its current use, the building's roots stretch back to the Middle Ages, and its walls preserve traces of several centuries of architectural change.

When was the church built?

The church was erected at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, standing along the old route connecting Kolín with Kutná Hora, next to a cemetery and a hospital that once stood nearby. The earliest written record of the building dates to 1359, when a goldsmith from Kutná Hora, Bernard Eisengraber, donated two score of groschen to the church, asking for prayers for his soul. The structure itself, however, must already have existed by the end of the 13th century.

What was its original purpose?

Originally, the church functioned as a hospital chapel, serving patients and staff of the adjacent medieval hospital. Everything changed in 1518, when the hospital was relocated elsewhere. From that point on, the church operated as a filial and cemetery church, mainly used by the local community for funerals and burials.

How has the building's architecture evolved?

The church retained its Gothic ground plan, and a few medieval elements survive from its earliest phase, including a Gothic window and vault in the presbytery. In 1747, the building underwent a thorough Baroque reconstruction: the nave was covered with a flat Baroque vault resting on ribs, decorated with a cycle of Rococo wall paintings created that same year. Further repair work took place in 1861–1869 and again in 1936–1937, when, among other things, the eighteenth-century paintings were restored.

As a result, the church today combines a Gothic layout and presbytery elements with a Baroque and Rococo interior decoration — an interesting example of architectural layering across several centuries.

Since when has it served the Orthodox community?

Since 1952, the building has been used by the Orthodox Church, which has rented it from its Roman Catholic owner ever since. This change of user is the reason the building is now referred to as an Orthodox church, even though its structure and decoration date from the centuries when it served a Catholic parish.

The church stands within Kolín, a town in the Central Bohemian Region, in the Kolín District. Its approximate geographic coordinates are 50.025°N, 15.2086°E.

What can visitors see inside?

Visitors are drawn mainly to the presbytery, with its surviving Gothic elements, and to the nave, decorated with eighteenth-century Rococo polychromy. The contrast between the austere, medieval character of the presbytery and the richly decorated Baroque-Rococo nave illustrates how artistic tastes shifted across the generations that cared for the same building.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Church of St. John the Baptist located? In Kolín, a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, at coordinates 50.025°N, 15.2086°E.

When was the church built? It dates from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, with the first written mention recorded in 1359.

What was the building originally used for? It served as a hospital chapel. After the hospital was relocated in 1518, it became a filial and cemetery church.

Since when has it been an Orthodox church? Since 1952, when it began being rented and used by the Orthodox Church, while remaining the property of the Roman Catholic Church.

What architectural style does the church represent? It combines a Gothic layout and presbytery fragments with a Baroque reconstruction from 1747 and Rococo wall paintings from the same period.