Dutzendteich Lakes
A pair of calm medieval ponds at the heart of the former rally grounds, where families now paddle boats across water that once mirrored the unfinished Congress Hall. The peaceful surface hides how brutally the Nazis reshaped this beloved recreational landscape.
About this place
The Dutzendteich is one of Nuremberg's oldest and best loved green spaces, a chain of ponds created in the medieval period as a water reservoir and cherished as a place of leisure for centuries. When the National Socialists chose the surrounding meadows for their annual party rallies, this idyll sat directly in the path of their ambitions. Part of the water was drained and filled, the old zoo and lakeside attractions were demolished, and the shoreline was rebuilt to frame the monumental Congress Hall that still looms over the northern bank. Today the two basins, the Great and the Small Dutzendteich, have been restored to a public park where locals swim, cycle and row. The lakes now serve a double role, offering both quiet recreation and a sobering reminder that the machinery of the regime reshaped even the water and the trees.
Key facts
- 1430 year — Approximate date the ponds were created by damming a small stream as a water reservoir
- 11 km² — Total area of the rally grounds that the Nazis laid out around the lakes
- 2 basins — The water was split into the Great and Small Dutzendteich by the regime's construction
📍 Otto-Ernst-Schweizer-Straße, 90471, Nürnberg