Thierstein Castle was built in the early 14th century by Albrecht VI of Wildstein. Later it was moved to the hands of Nuremberg burgraves and the house of Hohenzollern. In 1553, during the Second Margrave War, Thierstein was occupied by Bohemian troops. In 1603 Margrave Georg Friedrich of Brandenburg ordered to abandon the castle and the construction of a new office building outside the village of Thierstein. Nevertheless, the most necessary repairs were still carried out at the Thierstein castle during the Thirty Years' War. The end of the Thierstein castle came in 1725, when it was destroyed by fire.
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.