Cheb Castle

Cheb Castle is an imperial palace, castle complex, and fortress above the Eger River in the town of Cheb in western Czechia.

Around the year 900, a Slavic castle stood on a mountain spur above the Eger, the foundations of which, along with a cemetery, were discovered in 1900 during an excavation led by the Eger town archivist and museum director Karl Siegl. Around 1120, as the surrounding Egerland had by then become part of the Nordgau through colonization and Christianization, a castle complex was built on the mountain spur under Margrave Diepold III of Vohburg. This became an administrative center of the Holy Roman Empire when Egerland was inherited by the Hohenstaufen in 1167. From 1179, after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's first stay in the imperial city of Eger, the castle complex was expanded into an imperial palace. By 1189, the impressive Romanesque palace, the Black Tower, and the double chapel of St. Martin had been completed. From 1180 to 1220, the upper chapel of St. Erhard and St. Ursula was furnished.
After the end of the Hohenstaufen period, part of Egerland came into pawn to the King of Bohemia, who used Eger Castle for festivities and representation until 1471. The imperial city of Eger, secured by a city wall with guarded gates, then regained ownership of the complex and stationed a mercenary troop under a mercenary captain in the outer bailey. After a fire in 1472, the buildings in the residential and entrance areas were remodeled.

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