Cold War Museum “Bunker 42”

[fromSalekhard]

Since I still have some free time, I invite you on a tour of another Moscow museum. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
PS And this theme is very appropriate for Friday the 13th!

I’m lucky – this is my third catacomb. The first one was actually Stalin’s bunker in Samara, and the second, Bunker 703, is simply the underground archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And if both of them are at a depth of 35 meters, then here you go down 65 meters!

You can visit by booking in advance on the website and signing up for one of the tours.

There are a few additional conditions that are best reviewed on the website in advance. One of them is timely arrival. You can arrive early and stand guard at the border post. But don’t relax—from that moment on, you’ll be under close surveillance, and definitely not as a civilian. I didn’t tempt fate, but I’m almost certain that if you’re late, you’ll simply be denied entry.

You’ll only be allowed through these gates after you provide your last name and it matches your booking details.

And beyond the gates, there won’t be any vast dungeons awaiting you, only an unsealed storage facility.

in which you gradually begin to soak up the atmosphere of the place.

Poster text: We must be on guard

You have to wait until the previous tour leaves. It turns out it was children.

On school days, every Moscow museum is always packed with children. Which is good, from any side, except silence and order.

Finally, it was our turn.

A keen eye never lets you out of sight. When I walked the wrong way from the ticket office to take this photo, a kind, steely voice over the speaker asked where I was headed.

I wasn’t offended, as I was raptly examining the entrance ticket I’d received—a masterpiece!

The bold font on the left side of the first image is the original English text. As you can see, foreigners are not prohibited from visiting it. However, all the advertisements in three languages also indicate this.

After waiting for the tour guide, or rather, the escort (I’ll show you later), we headed down. Along the way, we encountered both modern and historical signs and posters.

Text on the poster:
No to NATO’s dangerous plans!
No to new American missiles in Europe!
No to the arms race!

They are not that outdated.

The “door” of this establishment made a lasting impression: 40 cm thick, weighing 2 tons, and capable of withstanding a nuclear explosion no closer than 150 meters away.

If anyone’s under the impression that all bunkers in the world belong exclusively to Stalin, they’re wrong. There are tons of them all over the place. Churchill, Tito, Honecker, the US Senate and Congress, and the Chancellor and President of West Germany all had their own bunkers.

You and I don’t have our own bunkers.

Text on map: Famous bunkers of the world

After a short briefing on site

Wall text: STOP! Show your pass!

we set off on our journey

along endless corridors.

[Klaus-Adler]

a very interesting pictorial guide, I liked the red carpet, did they have that especially fir you?

[Uncle-Heavy]

@fromSalekhard

Text on the poster:
No to NATO’s dangerous plans!
No to new American missiles in Europe!
No to the arms race!

They are not that outdated.

No to Russian imperialism.
No to Russian aggression.

[fromSalekhard]

@Klaus-Adler

a very interesting pictorial guide

I love good questions; it’s a pleasure to answer them. I don’t like dumb and generic jokes, but that doesn’t apply to you.
It turns out, I didn’t know before, that this particular type of carpet has its own name: “Kremlin carpet”! So its use in rooms for high-ranking government and military officials is entirely justified.
Well, we got a little of this “luxury” too.

[fromSalekhard]

As you can see, the escort is completely in keeping with the style and era—he’s wearing the uniform of the sinister GPU/KGB! And it must be said, he’s not the only one there.

Besides the corridors, there are some interesting rooms there.

Just look at the sophistication of the interior designers: you won’t even find the door right away!

The next room impresses with its interior, false windows and size.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the bunker was used as a joint headquarters for the armed forces. The facility operated autonomously in anticipation of a nuclear strike on Moscow, with up to 2,500 personnel on duty at the time.
Since the Long-Range Aviation headquarters were housed here for a time, the tabletop exhibit is dedicated to this theme.

But my attention was more drawn to the presence of a typewriter with Latin script in the secret headquarters: had they let a spy in there?

And also this nondescript diplomat,

which turned out to be that very famous “nuclear briefcase”.

It’s a model, obviously, but it’s still impressive.

At the end of the hall is an inconspicuous door that opens into some unknown, but clearly interesting, rooms.

[BootsDMS]

Oh do shut up.

[BootsDMS]

Absolutely fascinating Yuri; thank you so much for taking the time to show us all. All very evocative of the pressures and threats of the Cold War. Fantastic coverage and I should think the first time that most here, on the site, have ever seen such images.

Thank you again.

[MoramarthT]

@fromSalekhard

You and I don’t have our own bunkers.

The Swiss had a law which stated the government had to provide room in Bunkers for every citizen; I don’t know if it is still in force, I do know that many countries decommissioned and/or repurposed their bunkers in the 1990s.

Cheers,

M

[BootsDMS]

I think this was what was behind German building ordinances in building cellars. A cellar is always useful of course, but I suspect there was a bit of nuclear thinking behind it post war.

I wish we had similar in the UK; the attic is beginning to creak a bit from the stash - a bit like the scene in The Great Escape - you’ll know the one(!)

[MoramarthT]

@BootsDMS

I wish we had similar in the UK; the attic is beginning to creak a bit from the stash

There I have an advantage: being a wargamer I have decades worth of little lead figures to shield me from any fallout accumulating on the roof…

A colleague from work used to play the theme from “The Great Escape” very loudly when leaving Germany through any sort of border controls…

M

[Barney]

Thanks for posting the pics. It is something that is not often seen in the West. I have never seen a typewriter keyboard like that before too.

We have a similar museum in Canada (I’ve never been to). The series of bunkers throughout Canada were known as “Diefenbunkers).

Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum

[BootsDMS]

I remember when driving in convoy over the Moehnesee Dam we all broke into (la-la-la-ing) the Dambusters’ March.

[fromSalekhard]

Very interesting! Thanks to the site, I took a virtual tour of the structure.

[fromSalekhard]

They took us there by a long and roundabout route,

Probably so we could become familiar with the various “heroic” posters and graffiti on the walls.

Wall text: Zone “A-1”. Surrender your personal weapon to the security officer.
Poster text: Do not disclose!

My premonitions were right!

Honestly, I didn’t expect to see a room of this size underground! And this is not only the largest, but also one of the deepest rooms – we are at the ultimate depth!

Of all the bunkers I’ve visited so far, this one is the only one that’s truly nuclear-proof.

We lingered here for a bit. And it wasn’t just about the model of the first Soviet atomic bomb,

The main show in this hall is the launch of a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead. Two volunteers were selected and seated at dual control panels for a retaliatory strike. After selecting a target

the system was first switched to standby mode, and then to combat mode.

Text on screen: Standby mode. Control panel 1: Normal. Control panel 2: Normal.
Order: Proceed according to plan FGD-135

Text on the wall: Everything created by our people must be reliably protected!

The duty officer on the government communications system received the go-ahead to launch ballistic missiles with a nuclear warhead.

and the operators, with synchronized pressing of the launch buttons, sent the missiles to the target!

It’s clear that it’s an imitation, but it’s impressive. Before the event even began, they announced a ban on video recording. Maybe it was for photography in general, but I didn’t hear everything.

Nevertheless, after some thought, I didn’t ignore the subsequent warning, this time written and in multiple languages.

Well, almost. At the very beginning, I still took one photo. Then I stopped taking photos.

Since all such bunkers are called Stalin’s, it’s clear that this one couldn’t have been done without him. Of course, the leader’s office is unthinkable without a reception room, and Stalin’s reception room is unthinkable without Poskrebyshev.

The French writer Barbusse wrote about him: “He doesn’t have 32 secretaries like Lloyd George; he has only one secretary – Comrade Poskrebyshev.”

Stalin’s office itself is not particularly luxurious.

After walking down another corridor with specific inscriptions on the walls,

Wall text: STOP! SHOOTING! No entry.

[BootsDMS]

Absolutely fascinating; thank you so much for showing us all this.

[Jakko]

@fromSalekhard

You and I don’t have our own bunkers.

Unless you live in Switzerland.

[Damraska]

Someone needs to computer model that entire complex and make Fallout: Moscow. The poster in the fourth picture is the cover art for the game.

[Klaus-Adler]

absolutely amazing to see what was happening on the other side of the iron curtain

[BootsDMS]

I quite agree - absolutely fascinating.

[Klaus-Adler]

a hyphen! surely a semicolon would be more appropriate! I realise you’ve retired and are about to join the blue rinse brigade in benidorm but your letting the side down old chap