The tunnel to the elevator -
"The Eagle's Nest"
Entrance to tunnel
which leads to the elevator up to the Eagle's Nest
The photo above shows the entrance to
the tunnel that leads to the elevator up to the Eagle's Nest.
The small stone building on the left was built after the war.
Another tunnel, which runs parallel to the access tunnel, is
a supply shaft for electricity and heating lines. Originally,
the bronze door to the tunnel had handles in the shape of a lion.
Both of the handles were taken as souvenirs by Allied soldiers;
one is now in the hands of the family of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Tour buses deliver visitors to a parking
lot, where one must then enter this long tunnel which leads to
the 124-meter-high elevator shaft for the final ascent to the
the Eagle's Nest.
Before going through the tunnel, one
must stop at the tourist center in the parking lot and make reservations
for the return bus ride to the Obersalzberg. Return buses run
every half hour until 5 p.m.
The Eagle's Nest can only be reached
by a steep, treacherous road with hairpin curves which winds
four and a half miles up to the top of the mountain called Kehlstein.
This road, cut through the mountainside of solid rock and considered
one of the world's greatest feats of highway engineering, is
only accessible to buses which leave every half hour from the
Hintereck parking lot on the Obersalzberg. The photo below shows
visitors waiting at the tunnel for their return bus to the Obersalzberg.
Parking lot for tour
buses at the tunnel
Long tunnel to the
elevator is cold inside
Shown in the photo below is the 3-ton
marble slab above the door to the tunnel, which is engraved with
the words "Erbaut 1938," which translates to "Built
in 1938" in English.
Erbaut 1938 means the
tunnel was built in 1938
The Eagle's Nest can
be seen 124 meters above the tunnel entrance
The access tunnel, shown in the photo
below is covered with marble from the Untersberg. Adolf Hitler
walked through this tunnel at least 28 times on his 14 official
visits to the Eagle's Nest.
At the end of this
tunnel is an elevator to the Eagle's Nest
Hiker on his way down
the steep trail leading to the tunnel
To the left of the tunnel, as you are
facing it, is a path up the mountainside; a hardy person could
climb to the top in 20 to 30 minutes.
It was Martin Bormann, Hitler's deputy,
who first got the idea in April 1937 to build the Kehlsteinhaus
and later directed its construction. He thought Hitler would
enjoy having a new tea house on the top of the mountain because,
in the days before the war, it was Hitler's custom to take a
daily afternoon walk to a smaller tea house near his vacation
home on the Obersalzberg when he was in residence there.
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