European cultural route of fortified monuments

Experience fortresses

Underground fortresses: The secret buildings of the Cold War

Travel recommendations, Culture Trips, Study trips

FORTE CULTURA travel recommendation: Nuclear bunker

Testimonies in the shadow of the nuclear age

Unique cultural heritage - bunkers as memorials to history

The FORTE CULTURA bunkers of the Cold War have lost their function as military control centres with the potential to destroy entire continents. Hidden under cities or deep in the rock, they tell of an era in which technology, politics and architecture merged in a unique way. They are testimonies to a nuclear deterrence policy that seemed to have been overcome at the turn of the millennium.

Many of these former shelters - whether military bunkers, civil defence facilities or government bunkers - are now exciting museums and memorials that invite visitors to experience history up close. Visitors can feel the atmosphere of the Cold War in authentically preserved command posts, visit secret communication centres and learn more about life in a state of emergency, which fortunately never happened.

A trip to these bunkers offers extraordinary insights into European contemporary history and makes the omnipresent tension of those years tangible. These places are not only memorials to the past, but also impressive stops on a journey to Europe's cultural heritage.