History of the Cheb Castle began in early 12th century, when in the place of the former Slavonic settlement the second oldest castle in our territory was built. Its following destiny is narrowly connected with the mighty imperial dynasty of the Hohenstaufs. The famous Fredrik I Barbarossa later majestically extended the castle and changed it into a sumptuous pfalz (palatinate). The torso of once majestic palace, the massive defensive Black Tower and above all the unique Romanesque Gothic St. Martin, Erhard and Ursula Chapel have preserved till these days.
The castle experienced hard and unstable times, many wars and conquests, too. The castle went through its last development stage at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries when it was partially reconstructed into a Baroque citadel.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.