Cylinder head gasket with a ring-shaped combustion chamber sealing element comprising a metallic sealing strand, the sealing element being shaped and held in the cylinder head gasket so that when the gasket is clamped between engine component sealing surfaces and sealing surfaces thereof become relatively displaced parallel to the gasket plane during engine operation, sealing element sections are tiltable about the longitudinal center axis of the sealing strand. The gasket is shaped so that the combustion chamber sealing element is uncovered at the two main surfaces of the gasket and, in cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal center axis of the sealing strand, is of such spherical shape there as to result in surfaces of the sealing element, which are of convex cross section, and the radius of curvature of which is greater than half the thickness of the sealing element perpendicular to the gasket plane.