Interior of "The Eagle's
Nest"
The Great Hall is now
a restaurant
The room shown in the photo above was
formerly the great hall or living room of the Eagle's Nest. The
six steps in the center background lead up to the former dining
hall, which has also been converted into an informal restaurant.
The double doors in the center background lead to the steps down
to the Eva Braun room.
The restaurant in the former great hall,
also shown in the photo below, serves typical Bavarian food such
as sauerkraut and sausages, liver dumplings, Wienersnitzel and
sauerbraten. Note the window niches, created by the double walls.
The granite is a facade; the walls are not solid granite.
Restaurant in the former
Great Room, May 2007
The great room was originally furnished
with a huge round table in front of the fireplace, surrounded
by a circle of comfortable overstuffed chairs which alternated
with smaller chairs having wooden arms. There were other smaller
groupings of tables and chairs in front of the windows. The floor
was covered by a huge rug, that was a gift from the Japanese
ambassador.
The photo below shows the main hall or
great room as it looked just after the Eagle's Nest was formally
presented to Hitler on April 20, 1939 for his 50ieth birthday.
After the war, Allied soldiers visited the Eagle's Nest and wrote
their names on the round table. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
was one of the men who autographed the table.
The great room at the
Eagle's Nest, 1939
The photo above shows a glimpse into
the dining hall, which is located up the flight of stairs on
the right.
When the Eagle's Nest was a retreat for
Hitler and his henchmen, the dining hall had one long table with
14 chairs on each side and 2 chairs at the ends of the table.
The back and seat of each chair was covered in green leather,
as shown in the photo below.
Formal dining hall
at the Eagle's Nest, 1939
The dining hall was never used for state
functions; it remained empty and unused except for a few unimportant
Nazi party functions. The room is completely paneled with wood
and has wooden beams on the ceiling, from which two large chandeliers
hang. The three windows in the room look out on the colonnades,
also known as the sun terrace. Today the room is furnished with
rustic Bavarian style chairs and small tables.
There are two doors at the end of the
former dining hall. One leads into Hitler's former study which
is now occupied by the caretaker of the Eagle's Nest. The other
door opens into a hallway which leads to the kitchen.
The double doors in the center of the
photo below lead to the Scharitzkehlzimmer, commonly called the
Eva Braun room today, which is now empty except for a TV set
which shows films about the Eagle's Nest. When I visited the
Eagle's Nest in 1997, the Eva Braun room had 6 small tables and
chairs, like the ones that are now outside the double doors,
as shown in the photo below.
Double doors lead to
Scharitzkehlzimmer, aka the Eva Braun room
The Scharitzkehlzimmer was named after
the Scharitzkehl, one of the mountains that is visible from this
room. The room is paneled in Swiss pine. It had to be partially
restored after it was stripped by souvenir hunters. An expensive
tapestry formerly hung on the wall, but is now gone. This was
a sitting room, furnished with comfortable arm chairs, where
Eva Braun gathered with her friends. There are no bedrooms in
the house.
Eva Braun room has
Swiss pine paneling on walls
View of Watzmann mountain
from windows of Eva Braun room
The windows in the Eva Brown room can
be lowered into the wall, so that one can get a good view of
the Hoher Göll, Watzmann and Hochkalter mountains.
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