< >

The Church of St. John the Baptist is situated in the Liberec suburb of Rochlice.

The original Rochlice church stood on the left bank of the Nisa River, on the site of what is now Kyjevské náměstí. Around the church (which was undoubtedly wooden) there was a cemetery, on the site of which a cross has been preserved. The church was dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of merchants, like the church in Světlá pod Ještědem. After the House of Redern had a wooden church built on the right bank of the Nisa River in the early 17th century, the Church of St. Nicholas was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The wooden beams of the crumbling church were stripped out and used as fuel. 

When the Rederns became the owners of the estate after the Bibrštejns, they had a wooden church built on the right bank of the Nisa, initially intended for Lutherans. During the Counter-Reformation, the new church became Catholic and was consecrated to St. John the Baptist. A brick church replaced its wooden predecessor in 1657, and in 1678 the tower was rebuilt and three bells were hung in it. The church underwent major renovation in 1708 and 1709, with the entire interior being refurbished, including the altar, pulpit and organ. The work was probably directed by M. A. Canevalle, who at that time was also commissioned by the Rederns to build the Plague Church in Liberec and the church in Vratislavice. 

The fixtures and furnishings of the church are mostly original, Baroque, the most valuable being the main altar with the altarpiece of John the Baptist, the carved pulpit and the baptismal font, which has a stone foot and a pewter bowl. The precious coloured statue of the Virgin Mary was brought here in the 1960s from the Church of the Virgin Mary At the Picture. The nine paintings of death in the sacristy date from around 1767. The pseudo-Renaissance organ is from 1887; the new tower clock was crafted in 1899 by the Liberec clockmaker Leubner. 

Saint John the Baptist was a 1st-century prophet who became a preacher at the age of 30 to prepare people for the coming of the Redeemer. His exemplary and ascetic life made him hugely popular, and many people flocked to him, whom he subsequently baptised in the Jordan River; this is also how he baptised Jesus Christ.