Your first steps while walking through the city should lead to the Aš Museum. Inspired by a tour and packed with information, he can set out to discover attractions and sights, of which there are many.
Tower Háj near city Aš
Traffic:
On foot, bike, car, public transport
Distance from IC:
1,9 km
Opening hours:
1.4.-31.10.daily, Mon-Sun: 9:00-17:00, summer months to 19:00
The granite lookout tower offers breathtaking views of the surroundings. You can see the town of Aš and the nearby and more distant surroundings. What visitors can see is revealed by the copper plates in the eight highest windows of the tower. You can see not only the Green Mountain near Cheb, 20 kilometres away, but also Špičák in Sumava, seventy kilometres away, and Klínovec in the Ore Mountains, six kilometres away. The nearby Wartberg or Kornberg mountains, and even the highest mountain in the Saxon part of the Ore Mountains, the Fichtelberg, can be seen without any problems. The unmissable lookout tower rises to a height of 34 metres above the Háj peak at an altitude of 758 metres.
The first visitors climbed the 122 steps in late 1903, and the magnificent structure was inaugurated on 19 June the following year. The project, which won a prestigious prize at the Dresden Art Exhibition in 1901, was designed by the Dresden architect Wilhelm Kreis. An impressive amount of 66 cubic metres of granite blocks, about 65,000 bricks and nearly 60 wagons of lime were used for the construction. The craftsmen completed the construction of the monumental tower in a record time of 13 months.
The view from the top of Háj Hill On the top floor of the Aš tower, we can observe the surrounding landscape through eight glass windows. Orientation is greatly facilitated by the aforementioned copper plates on the parapets with directions and distances of the surrounding hills and towns.
The ruins of the Neuberg castle in Podhradí
Traffic:
On foot, bike, car, bus
Distance from IC:
5,9 km
Opening hours:
No (tower after borrowing keys at the municipal office)
They immediately gave the castle back to the family of Neuberg. The castle was later damaged by the troops of King Charles IV when its owners used the strategic location of the castle, which was near trade routes leading to Saxony, to carry out acts of banditry there.
From the year 1344, all the assets belonging to the Neubergs lying in the Aš Rrgion were gradually bought up by the House of Zedtwitz, who were related to the family of Neuberg. Conrad of Zedwitz acquired the Neuberg Castle in the year 1395 after he married Hedvika of Neuberg. In the year 1422, the Zedwitz estate was granted independence from Cheb by King Sigismund of Luxemburg, perhaps as a thanks for their non-participation in the Hussite Wars. As a result of that, the way of living in the Aš region changed, especially with regard to religion. Lutheranism started to spread in the region and soon it gained a powerful influence. In the 15th century, the Church of Good Shepherd was built near the castle and in year the 1610, the castle of Neuberg burnt down. Until then, it had served as the headquarters of the Zedwitz family who ruled the whole Aš headland. Then the Zedwitz split up and moved to new chateaus in Kopaniny, Doubrava, Smrčina and Podhradí. Materials from the ruined castle were used for the construction of the new chateau in Podhradí, which was located in the close proximity of the Neuberg castle. The original appearance of the castle is not known. Only a 22-metre high tower standing on a 29,5-metre high headland has been preserved. The circumference of the tower is 19.2 meters.
Town hall
Traffic:
On foot, bike, car
Distance from IC:
442 m
Opening hours:
No
The Baroque building from 1733, built as the administrative center of the Zedtwitz estate, was destroyed by fire in 1814 and rebuilt between 1815 and 1816 according to plans by Angelus Pleffer from 1733. In 1885, the building was raised by a second floor and rebuilt into a pseudo-Renaissance form. After 1945, a museum was located here, later a city library. In 2003, the building was repaired and returned to its original purpose.