St. John's Church, or Johanniskirche, stood on Johannisplatz in Leipzig, a few hundred meters east of Augustusplatz. It was a Lutheran church dedicated to John the Baptist. It was first built in the fourteenth century and partly destroyed in the Schmalkaldic War in 1547. It was demolished and rebuilt from 1582 to 1584, and Georg Werner added a Baroque tower from 1746 to 1749.
In 1813 it served as a military hospital after the Battle of Nations. From 1894 to 1897 everything except the tower was demolished and rebuilt in the Baroque Revival style by Hugo Licht. In 1904 the remains of Johann Sebastian Bach and Christian Fürchtegott Gellert were interred in front of the altar.
After wartime bombing damage, the nave ruins were cleared in 1949. On May 9, 1963, the tower was blown up on the orders of the SED, despite protests.
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