🏙️ Ries webcams online — watch inside the crater in real time

Unique location: a city inside a crater

Imagine a place where the sky fell to the earth with such force that it melted rocks. Ries is the only settlement on the planet built right inside a meteorite crater. The diameter of this giant formation is about 25 kilometers. The crater appeared about 14.5–15 million years ago, when an asteroid hit the Earth at a speed of about 70,000 km/h. The force of the collision was so colossal that it melted approximately 500 billion tons of rock. Because of its perfectly circular shape, the area was called the "Eye of Bavaria," and Ries itself sits comfortably at the foot of the Rosenberg mountain.

Diamonds in the walls: the geological wonder of Ries

The meteorite impact created a unique rock — suevite, which is an impactite made of rock fragments and glass. Under the influence of extreme pressure and temperature, local graphite turned into microscopic diamonds. Local residents have built houses and churches from suevite for centuries, mining it right under the city. According to geologists' estimates, the walls of Ries contain about 72,000 carats of microdiamonds (approximately 14.4 kg). These crystals are too small (less than 0.2 mm) to be seen with the naked eye, but they are literally part of the masonry. These are the smallest diamonds in the world, and they are everywhere — you just need to look at the old facades illuminated by the sun.

Astronaut traces: Ries and the Apollo program

Until the 1960s, scientists mistakenly believed Ries was a volcanic crater. Everything changed when American geologist Edward Chao discovered coesite and stishovite in suevite — minerals that form only under extreme pressures. This definitively proved the meteorite origin of the crater. In 1970, NASA chose Ries to prepare astronauts for the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 mission. Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, and James Irwin trained here, recognizing impact rocks and collecting samples, simulating work on the Moon. The geology of Ries was ideal for these purposes due to the presence of breccias and impact melt.

Dragons and giants: legends of the crater

Before scientific confirmation of the meteorite origin, local residents came up with their own explanations for the strange round valley. There is a legend about the "Hole in the Sky" (Himmelsloch), according to which the crater appeared after a lightning strike that tore open the heavens. In medieval folklore, Ries was associated with the dragon Fafnir from the "Song of the Nibelungs" cycle. Another legend says it is the footprint of a giant who stomped on the ground. Locals even called the crater "Schwamm" and believed it was a gateway to hell where evil spirits dwell.

What cameras show the city

You can see this amazing place where history intertwines with space not only in photographs. Ries webcams online allow you to observe the life of the city inside the crater in real time. If you want to see what Ries looks like, a webcam in the center will show the old streets and famous facades made of suevite. The online broadcast gives you the opportunity to appreciate the scale of the crater and feel the atmosphere of this unique Bavarian settlement without leaving home.