A fire broke out at the historic Kehlsteinhaus, also known as the Eagle’s Nest, near Berchtesgaden in Germany’s Bavaria region on Friday evening, with police suspecting arson and arresting a man in connection with the incident.
The alarm was raised shortly after 9pm local time, and emergency services rushed to the site on Kehlstein mountain. The building was already engulfed in flames when firefighters and police arrived, German newspaper BILD reported.
A police spokesperson told BILD that arson was suspected. Officers heading to the site encountered a motorcyclist and alerted the fire brigade following behind them. The man was stopped and arrested, the spokesperson said.
However, it remains unclear whether the arrested man was involved in starting the fire. The exact cause of the blaze is yet to be established.
No injuries had been reported at the time of the report, and authorities believed that nobody was inside the building when the fire broke out.
What is the Eagle’s Nest?
Perched at an altitude of 1,834 metres above Berchtesgaden, the Kehlsteinhaus was built in 1937-38 as a prestigious teahouse for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
It was also intended to serve as a venue for receiving foreign guests and diplomats during the Nazi era.
Hitler rarely visited the site, which was designed as a place for political representation away from public view. The building survived World War II largely unscathed and has operated as a mountain inn since 1952.
Owned by the Free State of Bavaria, the historic site is now a popular tourist destination, housing a restaurant and exhibitions documenting its links to Nazi Germany.