The rock passages are a widely ramified tunnel and cellar system under the old town of Nuremberg. Until the middle of the 17th century, the tunnel system was secret. Most of the rock passages and rock cellars known today are in the northern part of the old town. Due to the many former breweries, there are also some cellars that are not open to the public in the southern old town. Outside of the old town there are or were also some facilities such as. B. under the Johannisfriedhof, the Sandberg in St. Johannis, Bucher Straße and Bayreuther Straße. From 1380 onwards, the rocky corridors were carved into the rock as a multi-storey corridor and cellar system, which was mainly used for the fermentation and storage of beer. In addition, underground water extraction tunnels were built in the Burgberg. The longest of these tunnels led water into the basement of the Nuremberg town hall, where the perforated prison is located, where the city’s prisoners were imprisoned from 1340 to 1813. Because this water extraction tunnel ended in the hole, it was also called the hole water pipe. The corridors in the defenses of the Nuremberg Imperial Castle are known as casemates. They can be found in the bastions built by the architect Antonio Fazuni between 1538 and 1545. Fazuni used the rock as a building substance, so the casemates can also be counted among the rock passages.