CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
The Piarist Church of St. John the Baptist was built on the site of a mediaeval Johannite commandery (a church with an infirmary). The building was dedicated to the Piarists by bishop Karl II von Liechtenstein‑Kastelkorn. The Piarists added on it the building of today’s Conservatory and only then had a new monumental Baroque cathedral built. The building was completed in 1767 and it was consecrated on August 15th, 1768. The dome‑shaped church with an oval shaped nave and a pair of prismatic towers, not only in its layout, but also in the shape of its front façade, is very reminiscent of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. The front attic of the church is decorated with a sculpture of Christ’s Baptism. In the immediate vicinity of the church is located the Piarist college (today’s P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatory) and the Piarist Secondary School (a building decorated with the coat of arms of bishop Karl II von Liechtenstein‑Kastelkorn).
