Plauen Castle was built around 1250 as the seat of the bailiffs of Plauen. From 1466 it served as the Electoral Saxon official seat, burned down in 1548, was rebuilt around 1670 as a secondary residence of Saxony-Zeitz , served again after 1718 as the Electoral Saxon official and court seat and from 1852 as a prison.
In April 1945, the large area was significantly destroyed by air raids, along with large parts of the old town. Cell tracts that were preserved continued to serve as a penal institution after the war and were only demolished in 2013. An archaeological excavation followed. In the future, the campus of the Plauen State Study Academy will be housed in new buildings on the premises , with the ruinous historical building fabric being preserved and partially rebuilt.
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The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.