Cheb at a heritage symposium in Vienna

The Historic Cheb Endowment Fund has been showcasing Cheb in the Austrian capital.

The town of Cheb is getting international recognition for work that has made it possible not only for experts but also the general public to get to know the unique complex of historic roof trusses in burgher houses on King George of Podĕbrady Square. On Thursday 4 October, experts from three countries met at the invitation of the Federal Heritage Institute of Austria to present each other with the results of their projects. The initiator and organiser of the meeting was Vienna’s Department for Architecture and Structural Engineering, which last year completed a register of roof trusses in the historic parts of the city. Among the invited guests were staff from the heritage institute of the town of Steyer, roofers from the Waldviertel district, and historians working in Vienna’s Hofburg presented their experiences. Jiří Bláha from the Center of Excellence in Telč presented southern Bohemian historic roof trusses.

Cheb was showcased in the first instance through the work of the Historic Cheb Endowment Fund, whose activities in the project “Historic roof trusses – a Cheb phenomenon” were outlined by Marcela Brabačová, Chair of the Fund's Board of Directors. In her speech, she summed up all the steps of the project that led to the issuing of a publication in just eight months, the installation of an exhibition, the printing of Czech and German catalogues for the exhibition, the presentation of Cheb trusses at domestic and foreign trade fairs, and the publication of a number of promotional materials. The audience was most interested of all in the creation of a tour route, which, judging by the reactions of those present, is an absolutely exceptional piece of work. And all the more so because the town of Cheb set it up itself and operates it through its info centre. Cheb’s complex of historic roof trusses was then professionally presented and evaluated by Michal Panáček, who has been working with Cheb’s heritage conservation department for more than three years and plays a significant part in the activities of the Endowment Fund.