Fire devastates former Nazi guest house 'Eagle's Nest'

BERLIN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Firefighters battled for hours to contain a blaze that engulfed the ‌former Nazi guest house known as "The Eagle's ‌Nest" in southern Germany, while police investigated the cause after ​detaining a man near the scene, authorities said on Saturday.

Around 200 firefighters and emergency workers near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria were battling the flames after the ‌building, known as the ⁠Kehlsteinhaus, caught fire on Friday, police said.

Built in 1938 as a guest house ⁠for Nazi officials and their guests, the building sits in a spectacular Alpine setting above Berchtesgaden. Adolf ​Hitler ​used it occasionally, earning ​it the nickname "Hitler's Tea ‌House". It is separate from his nearby summer residence, the Berghof.

Bild newspaper quoted a police spokesperson as saying the building, preserved after World War Two as a historical monument linked to the Nazi ‌era, had been so badly ​damaged that it "could probably not ​be saved".

Police said ​earlier they had detained a man ‌near the site but had ​not yet established ​the cause of the fire.

"Whether the person is linked to the fire is currently the ​subject of ‌a criminal investigation," Bavarian police said in a ​statement.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie. Editing by William ​Mallard and Mark Potter)