A fire tore through the Kehlsteinhaus, the mountaintop building in the Bavarian Alps built for Adolf Hitler and known as the Eagle’s Nest, leaving it almost completely destroyed, German authorities said. Crews were still working to extinguish the blaze Saturday morning.
The building sits in the Berchtesgaden district of southeastern Germany, perched on a cliff 1,834 meters (6,017 feet) above sea level. Police said a fire alarm at the site went off around 9:15 p.m. Friday. Firefighters responding to the scene reported seeing flames even before they arrived.
The site’s remote, high-altitude location made the firefighting effort difficult, and as of Saturday morning crews still had not fully put out the blaze. Anyone approaching the building or its surrounding area was required to wear respiratory protection equipment because of the smoke.
Firefighters searched the structure and found no one inside. Authorities said they currently believe no one was injured in the fire.
Police said a person who drew investigators’ attention shortly after the fire started has been detained. It has not yet been determined whether that individual had any connection to the fire.
The local tourism authority initially said it was unclear whether any part of the building could be saved, but police later confirmed it had burned down almost entirely.
A Landmark With a Dark History
The Kehlsteinhaus was completed in 1938 and is accessible by an elevator carved into the rock, reached from a mountain road that winds through a series of tunnels. That road is closed to private vehicles but has long been used by tour buses bringing visitors to the site.
Since 1952, the building has operated as a cafe and restaurant and has housed an exhibition detailing its history. It was closed and not open to visitors on Friday when the fire broke out.
