6 Best Sights in Cheb, Western Bohemia

In the middle of the central square, Náměstí Krále Jiřího z Poděbrad, this statue is similar to other Roland statues seen throughout Bohemia, attesting to the town's royal privileges. (Roland is a figure in medieval and Renaissance literature; his statues are found throughout Europe.) This one represents the town hero, Wastel of Eger. Look carefully at his right foot, and you can see a small man holding a sword and a head—this shows the town had its own judge and executioner.

The building that houses this museum is just as interesting at its collection; it's known as the Pachelbel House, the setting for a murder during the Thirty Years' War. In 1634, General Albrecht von Wallenstein was executed in this house on the orders of Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II. He was provoked by Wallenstein's increasing power and rumors of treason. According to legend, Wallenstein was on his way to the Saxon border to enlist support to fight the Swedes when his own officers barged into his room and stabbed him through the heart with a stave. Wallenstein's stark bedroom has been left as it was with its four-poster bed and dark red velvet curtains. (The story also inspired playwright Friedrich Schiller to write the Wallenstein trilogy; he planned the work while living at the top of the square at No. 2.) The museum is also interesting in its own right, with a Wallenstein family picture gallery, a section on the history of Cheb, and a collection of minerals (including one discovered by Goethe). There's also the stuffed remains of Wallenstein's horse.

Built with blocks of lava taken from the nearby Komorní Hůrka volcano, this castle stands on a cliff overlooking the Ohře River. The castle—now a ruin—was built in the late 12th century for Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Redbrick walls are 17th-century additions. Inside the castle grounds is the carefully restored double-decker Romanesque chapel, notable for the many lovely columns with heads carved into their capitals. The rather dark ground floor was used by commoners. A bright, ornate top floor was reserved for the emperor and his family, who entered via a wooden bridge leading to the royal palace.

Red markers indicate a path from Cheb's main square westward along the river and then north past this extinct volcano, now a tree-covered hill. Excavations on one side have laid bare the rock, and one tunnel remains open. Goethe instigated and took part in the excavations, and you can still—barely—make out a relief of the poet carved into the rock face.

The volcano is about 2 miles out of town.

The plain but imposing Church of St. Nicholas was begun in 1230, when it belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights. Tinkering over the centuries added an impressive Gothic portal and a baroque interior. Just inside the Gothic entrance is a wonderfully faded plaque commemorating the diamond jubilee of Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph in 1908. The church was restored in 2016, and you can now visit the crypt, which has exhibitions, and the south tower, which has a panoramic view of the city.

In the lower part of Náměstí Krále Jiřího z Poděbrad stand two rickety-looking groups of timbered medieval buildings (11 houses in all) divided by a narrow alley. The houses, forming the area known as Špalíček, date to the 13th century, and were once home to many Jewish merchants. Židovská ulice (Jews' Street), running uphill to the left of the Špalíček, served as the actual center of the ghetto. The small, unmarked alley running to the left off Židovská is called ulička Zavražděných (Lane of the Murdered). It was the scene of an outrageous act of violence in 1350: pressures had been building for some time between Jews and Christians. Incited by an anti-Semitic bishop, the townspeople chased the Jews into the street, closed off both ends, and massacred them. Now only the name attests to the slaughter.