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Castle is unique among Czech castles. It is an unrivalled example of an imperial “pfalz” the only demonstration of this kind of castle architecture in our country. The Romanesque pfalz was built in late 12th century in the place of a former stone castle built on a Slavonic burial place. Roman Emperor Friedrich I the Barbarossa started the construction in 1179. Cheb Castle is the only Stauf imperial pfalz in our country today and it can pride on a perfectly preserved two-storey St. Erhard and Ursula Chapel built in early 13th century during the reign of Friedrich II, which is considered to be a treasure of Stauf Gothic. Besides the chapel, a torso of once luxurious palace with unique five casement windows and the mighty defensive Black Tower build from volcanic basalt also can be admired. The angular tower is situated on square base of 9 × 9 metres, it is 18.5 metres high and the walls on its ground floor are 3 metres thick. Historical relations and extensive construction changes of the whole castle area were archeologically explored for many years. Many legends, stories and significant historical events are connected with the castle. In the communist period the castle court was used as an amphitheatre and summer cinema until 1991. Since 1992 Cheb Castle is in ownership of Cheb Town, which as well took over its admini- stration in 2012.

St. Nicholas and Elisabeth Church is a Catholic parish church and at the same time the oldest existing one in Cheb. It can be found in Church Square, near the north-eastern corner of King George Square. It was originally built as a three-nave Romanesque basilica, burnt down several times during centuries and was restored exten- sively. The last restoration including Neo-Gothic roofing was carried out in 1864. This roof construction was destroyed in the last year of the World War II, exactly on 20 April 1945, as Cheb was bombed by the Alliance troops. Mainly the suburb was bombed, the railway station and viaduct were destroyed. One of the attacks in the centre damaged the church towers as well. Provisory low 7 metres high tower helmets were installed after the war for the following 63 years, until 2008. Thank to three years’ effort of Historical Cheb Town Fund which managed to collect the necessary 9 million CZK with contribution from numerous sponsors, the new church towers were consecrated on 29 June 2008. The return of the 26 metres high pyramidal towers removed the scar on the town’s panorama remembered by contemporary witnesses of the year 1945. Even the Classicist building of the parish office and a school on the place of the oldest Latin grammar school can be seen from the eastern side of the church. The oval staircase decorated with Baroque statues is from 1697.

Franciscan Monastery with a unique cloister inside belongs to the most beautiful places in Cheb. The former Minorites Convent was founded together with the adjacent Virgin Mary Annunciation Church in 1250s. King Rudolf the Habsburg took part in the consecration of the church, and his daughter, German princess Gutta even got married to the 14-year-old future Bohemian king Wenceslas II. This Czech-German royal wedding was the most significant event of the almost 800 years’ existence of the monastery. Soon after foundation the monastery was damaged by fire in 1270. After this devastation the first structural changes were done in frames of the restoration. In the course of time the monastery was rebuilt several times and its present form comes from the 18th century. In the 15th century the monastery came under administration of the Franciscans by the Pope’s order. Franciscans lived here together with Clarisses. The church is an example of pure Gothic – namely the ribs and arches in the famous cloister belong to the most beautiful ones in the Czech Republic. The atypical church tower, over 60 metres high, was built in Charles IV period and was a landmark pointing the travellers the refuge within the ram- parts of the royal town. The Franciscans administrated the monastery until 1951 when they were forced to leave by the communist regime. Virgin Mary Annun- ciation Church, the unique cloister from early 14th century with preserved rests of paintings from the 15th century and the beautifully restored Monastery Garden are open to public. On Franciscan Square there is also the Baroque Church of St. Clare – the former church of the nuns of the order of St. Claire – which now serves as a concert and exhibition hall.

The gallery is the oldest permanent photographic gallery in the Czech Republic. Since 2015 it is situated in the Baroque style manor in the Franciscan Square which gave the building a new social function. The collections are focused on Czech and foreign photographic works dating from the 50s of the last century to the present. In addition to exhibition activities, the gallery organizes different cultural and social events.

The Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb is an art museum focused on the 20th and 21th century artworks as well as the Gothic art of the historical region of Cheb/ Egerland. In 2016 the gallery has included Retromuseum, showcasing lifestyle and design of the 60s to the 80s. The gallery is situated in the building of the New Town Hall Palace in the main Cheb square, the Retromuseum is also closeby, in so-called “Schiller“s house.

In 1850s Cheb citizens decided to connect the town centre with the new railway. Two houses were demolished in the southern end of the square and a new boulevard led through this gap site toward the railway station. However, a small flaw occurred: the new boulevard was situated on the southern side while the square slants northwards, so the opening was not focused on Špalíček, but on its roofs. This flaw was not ac- ceptable for the architects and so they used an old solution called point de vue – an eye catcher. They installed a statue of Emperor Joseph II into this open- ing. In frames of the reconstruction of the pedestrian zone by Studio A-69 Architects poster posts and flower pots were removed and the opening was returned with the sunken horizon of the square. A competition was announced in which professor Marian Karel par- ticipated with his design called “Gate of Time”. His winning artefact became part of the whole project. Gate of Time symbolizes door leading into the house which used to stand here and where medieval Cheb opened itself to the new industrial era and to the future. The artefact turns around its axis un- noticeably, 180° in 24 hours. At midnight it is “closed”, at noon, in the position “open” its side gets connected with the time axis of the most significant dates of Cheb history. The axis goes along the whole pedestrian zone until the year 2011, when the town cele- brated 950 years from the first written mention. The artefact is 9 metres high, 2 metres wide and it weighs 3.5 tons.