ALBRECHT VON WALLENSTEIN

Among the most important exhibits of the Cheb Museum are the belongings of one of the greatest generals of the Thirty Years War – Duke Albrecht von Wallenstein. He was a nobleman, Bohemian military leader and Catholic and he was murdered inside Pachelbel house, now the home of the Cheb Museum, on 25th February 1634. By the time of his death, he was one of the most influential figures in the Holy Roman Empire.

Approximately 100 years after the murder, Cheb’s citizens realized that they could profit from this tragic event. The town council agreed and began collecting items connected to Wallenstein. During the 18th century, many paintings were made and then sold to important visitors to Cheb. The popularity of the town was increasing and peaked at the end of the 1700s, thanks to the trilogy of dramas about Wallenstein, by the author Friedrich Schiller (Wallenstein’s Camp,The Piccolomini, Wallenstein’s Death).

In the second half of the 19th century the town’s Council was relocated into the Pachelbel House, but only for a short period, as the newly intended museum was in need of appropriate and interesting spaces, which the building offered. Ultimately it was the prestige of Wallenstein which resulted in the establishment of the museum in 1873 inside Pachelbel House.