City museum in Aš

The City Museum in Aš (Národopisné a textilní muzeum, the Ethnographic and Textile Museum) is a small but distinctive regional museum in the far-western Czech town of Aš, right on the border with Germany. Housed in a historic building known locally as "zámek" (the castle), it tells the story of a region that lived for generations off the textile industry.

How do you get there?

The museum sits in the centre of Aš, at Mikulášská 3/5. The town occupies the westernmost tip of the Czech Republic, in the Cheb (Chebsko) region, just a few kilometres from the German border. The easiest way in is by car or train from Cheb — Aš has its own railway station, and it's a short, easy walk through town to the museum from there.

What will you see?

The museum building is itself part of the experience. It's an Empire-style residence built by the factory owner Klaubert, standing on the site of the former Zedtwitz family castle — which is why the building is still known as "zámek" today. Inside and around it you'll find preserved epitaphs of the Zedtwitz noble family, originally kept near an evangelical church that burned down in 1960, alongside a collection of stone crosses and rubbings of crosses gathered from villages in the surrounding countryside.

The museum's real strength, though, is its textile collection. From the 19th century onward, textile production was the backbone of the local economy, and from the 1970s the museum began systematically documenting and collecting machinery and objects connected to fabric and knitwear manufacturing. The result is a striking collection of 26,563 half-pairs of textile gloves — a nationally unique holding that illustrates just how extensive local glove production once was. Beyond the gloves, exhibits include historical irons, printing blocks used for patterning fabric, and clothing from the 19th and 20th centuries.

There's also an ethnographic wing, with folk furniture, ceramics, glass and porcelain, and historical weapons and uniforms, plus a reconstructed model of Aš's historic town centre that helps visualise how the town looked before the upheavals of the 20th century.

When should you go?

The museum works best as a stop on a longer trip through the Chebsko region — it's a compact area, easy to combine with a visit to Cheb or nearby villages. Given the museum's modest size, a visit typically takes an hour or two, making it a convenient addition to an itinerary at any time of year.

Why is it worth a visit?

Aš rarely makes it onto standard tourist routes, and that's exactly what makes this museum interesting — it's an authentic, local institution that tells the story of a border town without any pretence: from the noble Zedtwitz family, through the textile industrial boom, to the region's postwar transformation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the museum's official name? Its full name is Národopisné a textilní muzeum Aš (Ethnographic and Textile Museum of Aš), also referred to as "Městské muzeum v Aši" (City Museum in Aš).

How old is the museum? It was founded in 1892 at the initiative of the town's then-mayor, Emil Schindler. It has occupied its current building at Mikulášská 3/5 since 1966.

What's the highlight of the collection? A collection of more than 26,000 half-pairs of textile gloves, documenting the historical textile industry of the Aš region.

Does the museum building have its own history? Yes — it's an Empire-style residence built by the factory owner Klaubert, which became the museum's home in 1966. It stands on the site of the earlier Zedtwitz family castle, from which the building's nickname "zámek" comes.