Cham: Discover the Old Town, Museums and Art

Cham combines a history spanning centuries with archaeology and art. In this town, which is over 1,000 years old, a walking tour takes you through the historic Old Town; exhibitions focus on both early traces of settlement and 20th-century art and contemporary works. If you’re looking for a hotel in Cham, these different themes can help you tailor your stay to your interests.

Historic Old Town and Cordonhaus

A walking tour takes you through the historic Old Town. The accompanying digital brochure is available to download and can help you prepare for the tour. You can also explore the town’s history through individual buildings: Cordonhaus, on the inner town wall, dates back to the 16th century. Its arcaded courtyard and covered gallery are unique in Cham and add a distinctive architectural touch. The town’s history of more than a thousand years and the 16th-century Cordonhaus represent different historical periods.

Archaeology and art at Cordonhaus

The Prehistoric Exhibition at Cordonhaus covers the prehistory and early history of the municipality of Cham and its immediate surroundings. Distribution and finds maps, archaeological finds and explanatory texts show traces of the first human visits and settlements in the Cham-Furth depression. The different forms of presentation offer different ways to explore the subject: maps illustrate distribution, finds provide insight into material evidence, and texts put the topics into context.

Another cultural highlight is the Municipal Cordonhaus Gallery in Cham. It presents contemporary art in temporary exhibitions, including works by regional artists as well as renowned artists from across Germany. Cham thus brings exhibitions on early settlement together with changing contemporary art—two clearly distinct themes to explore in the town.

Museum SPUR: Art and Architectural History

Museum SPUR presents paintings, sculptures and works on paper by the SPUR group from 1957 to 1965. The works are associated with Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. The period and the variety of media give the museum a different focus from the contemporary temporary exhibitions at Cordonhaus.

The history of the museum building is also part of Cham’s cultural offering: since 1991, the former town poorhouse has housed Museum SPUR, jointly run by the town and Cham district. The late Gothic building is located on the Regen; its history dates back to the 16th century. At SPUR, art history and the history of a historic building sit side by side.

Planning your stay

The Cham Tourist Information Office is on the market square in the heart of the Old Town. Its services include information materials in various languages, event tickets and an interactive history of the town. As service information can change, check in advance which information or tickets are currently available if you need them for your plans.

This gives you a specific focus for planning your trip around the sights, without having to commit to a particular museum or art movement in advance.

More places to explore in Cham district

The broader picture of the Cham destination also includes places in Cham district with their own cultural and natural highlights. In Furth im Wald, the Dragon Cave offers a tour with information about the town’s dragon story, the festival and the technology behind the dragon robot. The summer festival is part of the town’s Drachenstich tradition. In Rötz, the Schwarzwihrberg nature forest reserve is part of the “Schwarzwihrberg bei Rötz” Special Area of Conservation.

The Pilgrimage Museum in Neukirchen beim Heiligen Blut also adds to this regional picture: it is housed in the former nursing castle and contains treasures from the archive of the pilgrimage church. The examples from Cham district have different themes from Cham’s Old Town, the exhibitions at Cordonhaus and Museum SPUR. When planning, you can therefore distinguish between town history and art in Cham and other cultural and natural themes in the district.

Discover more destinations: Chammünster, Chamerau, Zell, Rimbach, Tiefenbach, Wald, Gleißenberg, Zandt.

For the main travel overview: Cham.