Unterirdisches Zwiesel

Useful Information

Location:	Stadtplatz 35, 94227 Zwiesel, backyard. (49.014065, 13.231423)
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 16. [2025]
Fee:	Adults EUR 10, Children (5-17) EUR 4. [2025]
Classification:	Cellar World War II Bunker
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=3 km, VR=11 m, T=10 °C.
Guided tours:	D=1 h, L=124 m, MinAge=5, Min=6, Max=20.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Thomas Weber (2004): Zwiesels unterirdische Gänge im Spiegel der Stadtgeschichte. Eine heimatkundliche Dokumentation. Zwiesel
Address:	Touristinfo Zwiesel, Stadtplatz 27, 94227 Zwiesel, Tel: +49-9922-7099011. Unterirdisches Zwiesel e.V., Binderanger 2, 94227 Zwiesel, Tel: +49-170-60-110-32. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2001	Arbeitskreis Unterirdische Gänge (working group on underground passages) established and passages opened to the public.
2005	Unterirdisches Zwiesel e.V. association established.

Description

The Unterirdisches Zwiesel (underground Zwiesel), also known as the Unterirdische Gänge Zwiesel (underground passages of Zwiesel), does not actually have a name; it is a kind of labyrinth beneath the town, whose passages are very mysterious. However, it seems to have been started in the late Middle Ages and was gradually expanded over the following centuries. It is believed that the passages primarily served as escape tunnels, especially since the city suffered repeated military incursions due to its proximity to the border. They were probably started during the Hussite Wars (1409-1433) and further expanded during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). The rock is deeply weathered and relatively soft, so it was probably excavated with the simplest of tools such as picks and shovels. Only in particularly hard places are there traces of hammer marks.

Originally escape cellars and hiding places, the cellars were connected by passages to escape routes. To supply air, air shafts with diameters of 10-40 cm were drilled to the surface using simple rock drills. These shafts were secured with ledges or staggered gneiss slabs to prevent incendiary devices from being thrown in. Later, however, the passages were also used as storerooms and cellars. By the 18th century, a 3 km long passage system had been created. It was not until after the Second World War that the entrances were filled in or destroyed as part of the reconstruction.

The cellar passages were not rediscovered until 2001, when the Arbeitskreis Unterirdische Gänge (Underground Passages Working Group) was formed as part of the Waldverein Sektion Zwiesel (Forest Association Zwiesel Section) to explore the passage system. The group opened and explored some of the cellars and made them accessible to the public in the same year. However, this was not so much in the form of a museum as an underground art exhibition. The first exhibition took place on the occasion of the Zwiesel Glass Days in 2002. In 2005, the working group became the Unterirdisches Zwiesel e.V. non-profit association, which continued the exhibitions, and many guided tours were also organised on Open Monument Day. Together with institutions in nearby Czechia, where the day lasts a whole week, not just one day as in Germany, a rich supporting programme was offered. Overall, the association seems to focus heavily on history and offers various guided tours on a wide range of topics. The renovation, maintenance and guided tours of the cellars are just one of about a dozen projects, despite the name.

The tour shows only a small part of the cellar system, the second and third basement floors of three neighbouring buildings on the Stadtplatz (town square). The entrance is at the rear of the buildings, from the garage level of the Stenzer house. There are very different rooms with different uses, such as beer and ice cellars, as well as air and trap door shafts. A typical connecting passage from the Second World War, which was built to connect the cellars, can also be seen. If the entrance to one house was blocked by bombing, those seeking shelter could move from one cellar to another to find an entrance that had not been blocked.

The long escape tunnels, which are said to have led from the cellars to outside the village, are not part of the tour. Especially in the last 150 years, there have been a multitude of legends and fairy tales, most recently also from the esoteric scene. The interpretation of the passages as Erdställe (souterrains) is wrong but nevertheless repeatedly published. Unfortunately, these esoteric legends have even made it onto the Wikipedia page. The Unterirdisches Zwiesel e.V. (Underground Zwiesel Association) has been working for years to research the passages on a scientifically sound basis and to separate the legends from reality. It is an indisputable fact that the entire system was not primarily a storage cellar, but clearly a "fortification and escape system".

The tours are suitable for anyone who is able to visit a cellar. Stairs must be climbed, so unfortunately the tour is not wheelchair-accessible. We found the wording "You don't need to dress up, not even with a helmet" very amusing. This also reflects our opinion on the compulsory wearing of helmets in underground attractions.