TUNNELS AND SECRET PASSAGES

The defensive and secret passages meander deep within the walls of the Nuremberg bastions. Metre-high corridors, known as casemates, follow the zig-zag course of the fortifications protecting Nuremberg Castle.

Hidden and scarcely perceptible from the outside, gun ports are staggered along the base of the walls overlooking the moat. Any spot in the moat could be fired at from these positions. This was how Nuremberg was to be defended in the event of a threat. The ingenious system of these winding defensive and secret passages made Nuremberg the best-protected city in the German Reich. The fortifications remained unconquered for centuries.

During the tour, we first look from the outside at how the bastions were built to protect the city. Then we descend from the castle garden into the medieval casemates with their high vaults, massive sandstone walls and ventilation shafts.

A special highlight are replicas of the 16th-century weapons used at the time.