Church of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

The Church of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is a small but remarkably old parish church in Prague's Hostivař district, standing on a quiet square along Domkářská street. From the outside it reads as a modest classicist building, but its roots reach back to the Romanesque era, and it hides one of the rarest surviving pieces of medieval wall painting in Prague.

Where exactly is this church?

Hostivař belongs to Prague 15, on the southeastern edge of the Czech capital — well connected to the center today, yet still carrying the feel of a former village absorbed by the growing metropolis. The church stands on a small square in the older part of Hostivař, surrounded by buildings that form the neighborhood's historic core. Despite a name overlap that can confuse visitors, this church has nothing to do with Warsaw's Praga district; it sits within Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

How old is the church really?

Historians don't fully agree on the exact origin date. The church's present floor plan most likely took shape after a 13th-century rebuilding, though some sources trace its Romanesque foundations back to the 11th or 12th century. The reconstruction is believed to have been initiated by the Sázava Monastery, under whose jurisdiction the church fell as part of the Říčany deanery. The Hostivař parish itself is first documented in 1352, confirming that organized religious life was already well established here in the Middle Ages.

What stands out architecturally?

The nave forms a regular rectangle measuring 17.80 by 9.20 meters, joined organically to the oldest surviving part of the building: a semicircular Romanesque apse. That apse is the real highlight of the site — it holds rare wall paintings from the second half of the 13th century, uncovered relatively recently during restoration work. They rank among the very few surviving examples of medieval sacred painting from this period anywhere in Prague, and they're the main reason art historians pay close attention to this otherwise unassuming church.

The building took on its current classicist appearance during a major renovation at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Architectural research from 1978–1985 established that the projecting entrance porch on the west side and the sacristy on the north side were later additions, built after the original medieval structure. In front of the entrance stands a black statue of Saint John of Nepomuk holding a gilded martyr's palm — a familiar feature of Czech folk piety found outside many churches and bridges across the country.

Next to the church stands a separate freestanding wooden bell tower, located on the site of the former parish cemetery. It counts among the oldest surviving wooden bell towers in the Czech Republic, making it a notable attraction in its own right, independent of the church itself.

When and how to visit?

The Hostivař church remains an active parish church, so it's best to plan a visit outside service hours, ideally on days when local heritage events open it up more widely to visitors — the annual Night of Churches (Noc kostelů) being a good example. A walk around the surrounding square and the old cemetery grounds offers a glimpse of a quieter, historic corner of Prague, away from the crowds that fill the city center.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same church as the one in Warsaw's Praga district? No. Despite the potentially confusing district name, this church stands in Hostivař, part of Prague 15 in the Czech Republic, not in Warsaw's Praga.

What is the most valuable feature of the church? Its Romanesque apse, which holds recently uncovered wall paintings from the second half of the 13th century — among the oldest surviving sacred decoration of its kind in Prague.

When did the church get its current appearance? It received its classicist form during a rebuilding at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, even though its oldest elements date back to the Middle Ages.

Is there anything else worth seeing near the church? Yes — a freestanding wooden bell tower standing on the site of the former cemetery, one of the oldest surviving structures of its kind in the Czech Republic.