Cheb

Cheb - Eger - was an imperial free city and part of the Holy Roman Empire's direct territory rather than of Bohemia for much of the Middle Ages, pledged to the Bohemian crown only in 1322 and keeping a distinct legal status long after, which is why it looks and feels different from other Czech towns. The castle is an imperial Pfalz begun under Frederick Barbarossa, and its chapel is the piece to see: a double chapel of about 1220 with a lower level of heavy Romanesque piers and an upper level of slender early Gothic columns, connected by an opening so the two spaces read together. In the market square stands Spalicek, a block of eleven narrow medieval merchant houses crammed together with a lane through the middle. Wallenstein was assassinated in the town in 1634; the house is the museum.

History

The town's first name, recorded in 1061, was Egire, from the Celtic name of the Ohře, Agara, and the German Eger comes from it; the Czech Cheb, first found in the mid-14th century, means a bend in the river. A Slavic hillfort stood where the castle is; in 807 the district became part of the margraviate of East Franconia. Děpolt II founded the castle around 1125, Cheb was a fortified market by 1149, Frederick Barbarossa acquired it in 1167, and in 1203 it is first called a town, the centre of the region known as the Egerland. It belonged to Ottokar II from 1266 to 1276 - the old centre was laid out after a fire in 1270 - and to Wenceslaus II in 1291-1304, but it became a lasting part of the Bohemian crown only in 1322, when King John acquired it from Louis IV. In the 15th century it was one of the largest and richest towns of Bohemia, with 7,300 people. It suffered in the Hussite wars, from Swedish attacks in 1631 and 1647 and in 1742; Albrecht von Wallenstein was killed here in 1634, Cheb became a free royal town in 1723, and a great fire in 1809 destroyed many medieval buildings in the northern part of the old town (Wikipedia, Cheb).

The main sights

• A Romanesque double chapel - heavy piers below, slender Gothic columns above.
• An imperial Pfalz - the castle begun under Barbarossa, not a Bohemian foundation.
• Spalicek - eleven narrow medieval houses in a block with a lane through it.
• The Wallenstein house - where the general was killed in 1634, now the museum.

When to go

April to October. A day.

What to expect

The castle is a partial ruin and seasonal. Museums close on Mondays. Parts of the town outside the square are run-down. The German border area has a poor local reputation for street trade - stay in the centre.

Nearby

Frantiskovy Lazne and Soos are north; Marianske Lazne is south.

Key facts