Kostel svatého Jana Křtitele (Náchod) Church

St. John the Baptist Church in Náchod is the oldest preserved building in the city. It stands on the cemetery street on the road leading to the Czech Skalice, where it has been guarded by the genesis Náchodska for nearly a thousand years. It first appears in the first half of the 13th century as a parish church serving both the old and the new Náchod. The church used to be a rectory and a school, and as it used to be, there was a cemetery around it.

Until the beginning of the 14th century, the church maintained its prestigious position. But around 1310, his task changed. The parish was abolished and the temple turned into a second-order book - a filial sanctuary subordinate to the main parish and, above all, into a perpetual cemetery. This is where all the dead owners and masters of the Walkhouse lived, whether they were based in the old Slavic castle Homolka, or belonged to the priests of the Walkways. They guard this post until the time of Albrecht Smiřický.

But the construction has not been spared by the violence of ages. In 1441, it was burned by the Silesian. In the early 16th century, it needed to be repaired - extended and renewed. This year's 1501 carved over the portal resembles this renewal, which was preserved until the end of the 19th century. From the Middle Ages to the 16th century, however, much was lost - it is no longer possible to name all the dead under the pavement, only their ratio and seriousness.

The fate of the church touched even in the era of enlightenment. During Josefov's reforms, he was sold at public auction in 1786 for only 40 gold coins. The bell wandered to Bezděkov near Police nad Metáť, the bench moved to St. Wenceslas's church in Dovenín. The temple was waiting for a new arrival of the believers.

He wasn't too late. Already in 1791 the church was reopened and since then it has not stopped serving funeral and prayer. In the 17th and 18th centuries he walked through many repairs and his interior equipment was completely restored. Around 1870, the old morgue disappeared on the west facade, connected with a small chapel of St. John and the Vavríce. Major construction repairs have been carried out recently - between 1999 and 2008.

The architecture of the church reports to the goth. It is a simple tower building with a rectangular ground plan and a square right-angle finished by a presbytery. The boat covers a flat wooden ceiling, the roof is made up of a saddle shingles. On the south side lies the baroque hall. The most impressive appears the sharp gothic windows in the presbytery with their stone ornament circles. Shields decorate sandstone crosses. In the interior, space clings in a powerful victory arch.

The church is in the care of the state - acquired the status of cultural monument in 1958. Rare gravestones from the 16th to 19th century - silent witnesses of old Náchoda, who knew individual generations and their stories, were preserved around the walls.