3. View up to Eagle´s Nest

The idea of the Eagle's Nest came from Martin Bormann, who wanted to give Hitler a special gift for his upcoming 50th Birthday. Work began in 1937 under the enineer Dr. Fritz Todt, the person in charge of road construction. Under conditions which are unthinkable today, work began on the 6.5km long road, which was 4m wide. The road covers an elevation of 800m, and includes 5 tunnels, and a vehicle turning place at 1700m above sea level, which had to be carved into the mountain side.

They also had to dig a tunnel 127m into the mountain and a 124m tall lift shaft. The liftshaft would allow access directly into the main Eagle's Nest building. On completion of the road, a cross was erected on the peak of the Kehlstein Mountain.

The Eagles Nest itself is a very imposing granite building. Possibly the most famous room was the conference room with thick walls, and windows that gave good views over the area. It is also in this room that you will still find the marble fireplace given by Mussolini to Hitler. There was also a dining room, a guards room and a small room lined with pine, known as Eva Braun´s Tea Room.

The actual building time for the Eagle´s Nest and road was just 12 months (1937/38), as building could only take place from May to October due to weather conditions.The total cost of the project was over 30 million Reichsmarks. The handover of the building was due on 20th April 1939 as a gift from the NSDAP to their leader.

After the start of the war, the building was often empty and the Americans believed the building to be of greater importance that it ever was, referring to it as Hitler´s Alpine Fortress. It was only built for representation purposes; no-one ever lived up there.

Although left untouched by the bombing raid of April 1945, it was given back to the State of Bavaria in 1948 and from 1952 has been operated by the German Alpine Club as a non-profit organisation, one to which thousands of people flock every day between May and October.