Wallenstein's Death Room

Albrecht von Wallenstein was perhaps the most infamous figure of the Thirty Years’ War. Largely waged between Catholics and Protestants, the war was one of the bloodiest and most destructive conflicts in European history up to the World Wars.

Despite being born into a Protestant family, Wallenstein converted to Catholicism and became the most prominent general of the Catholic forces as well as one of the most influential men in the Holy Roman Empire. Sixteen years into the war, however, after witnessing the immense bloodshed and realizing that no end was in sight, Wallenstein began secretly negotiating peace with the Protestants.

Suspecting his treachery, the Imperial court in Vienna found him guilty of treason, forcing Wallenstein to flee to the Bohemian city of Cheb (also called “Eger” in German). Irish Catholic assassins broke into his bedroom in the middle of the night on February 25, 1634, and speared him with a polearm, killing the famous general.

The room where Wallenstein was killed was first reconstructed with period furniture and many of his personal possessions in 1873, and remains on display as part of the city museum. Wallenstein’s taxidermied horse is also among the personal artifacts in the museum’s collection.