Stalin's cold war bunker almost 200 feet underground was sold by the government in 2006 to a private group which is in the process of turning it into a cold war museum . This entrance is entirely new; the original house gave no signs that it was anything beyond an ordinary house. The main reason the government divulged the secret and sold the tunnel is that while it would probably have worked for the early nuclear bomb, and thankfully they didn't have to find out whether it would work or not, it was not strong enough to counter the new underground nuclear weapons.
Built from 1952-1956, the tunnels were the top secret command center for Stalin in the event of a nuclear attack. They were hidden inside a 19th century house, and no one except those directly affected knew about them. Workers and supplies were brought in via a metro at night which connected somehow to the tunnels, and garbage was removed by the same train. There were supposedly a total of 3 separate entrances, but we only saw the one by which we entered. The 2000-2500 workers had their backgrounds thoroughly checked; only 1 known spy was found. He claimed that his grandparents were buried in a certain town, but when they questioned him further, he didn't know there were two cemeteries in the town. Anyone who knew about the compound was not allowed to leave the country so that the silence was preserved. Once inside the house at 11 5th Kotelnichesky Pereulok, we went through 2 metal doors which were about 15 inches thick each. They slid closed in opposite directions to deal with nuclear waves in any direction. The door were both manually and electrically operated, but when the tour guide tried to show us how the door opened and closed, it wouldn't work. Those who were on the other side of the door did not complain. After all a door that stuck open might also stick shut. Next was the decontamination room where workers would remove clothes and guns contaminated by nuclear fallout. After that came the stairs. We walked down 19 levels with two sets of 8 stairs for each level (288 steps if our math is correct.) The walls were designed so that the enemy bullets would ricochet off the walls back to the enemy. The staircases were placed so that the next level could not be soon. Generally there is a gap so that people can see down to the bottom, but here that space was deliberately filled in so that enemies would see as little as possible. Originally the bunker was totally finished even to the carpets and parquet floors, but now only the original walls remained. Because they weren't sure how the limestone would react to a nuclear attack, the walls were reinforced with concrete underneath the steel tunnels. Holes were drilled every few inches, and concrete reinforced with a filler so that it could expand was poured in and sealed. There were a total of 4 interconnected 150 meter tunnels. Workers had passes which showed which areas they were allowed to penetrate; the second tunnel was the top secret control center. Up to 3,000 people could survive for a total of 90 days. In the 1980s the government began to renovate the facility but then by the 90s, they started to remove things from the tunnels. When the private company doing the renovation bought it in 2006, the tunnels were full of water seeping in from the Moscow River, and almost nothing remained of the original interiors. We viewed a movie of the cold war era ("Don't worry; it's neutral.") I'm not at all familiar with the cold war era, but it seemed to me that perhaps it wasn't quite a neutral as it claimed: they mentioned 6 or 7 b0mbs that were detonated by the Americans compared to the 1 they mentioned that the Soviets set off. Two American spy planes which had been shot down were mentioned, but no Russian ones. But it was still interesting. We next went into a room with a raised area where the important announcements were made. Up above that was the canteen where we had a military dinner: kasha (buckwheat) with beef (Kristen fed me her beef but enjoyed the kasha), vodka (I skipped that in case you're wondering), brown bread (would have been better with butter), and tea possibly poured from the large samovar sitting on the counter. We ate cafeteria style at the long table in the room. After lunch we toured more of the tunnel. The guide pointed out the tunnel to the metro, but it was closed off. He also said that the tunnel was on the same level as the metro, but it seemed as if the metros were overhead rather than at the same level. The area which will become the cold war museum had a row of equipment which would have been used in the tunnel, things such as radiation detectors and telephones. Another area had doors with different posters on them. We could hear music from inside. It looked as though they rented out rooms to outsiders. The area which was originally the sleeping quarters was still covered with water; obviously they weren't ready to rent those out yet. When we reached the furthest point in the tour, the lights suddenly went off and the air raid siren sounded followed by commands barked in Russian. The guide tried to translate, but it was hard to hear over the commands. We got the picture though. This is what it might feel like to experience a nuclear attack; it wasn't the actual thing. It's good that the rest of the tour figured that out too since the paint on the walls was very fresh, and they would have had interesting designs on the walls if our group had started to panic. Of course, it's a little hard to get nervous when the guide is carefully translating the words belted out in panic over a loudspeaker. On the way back, we were offered a choice between taking the elevator or the stairs. Kristen and I along with 3 other brave souls chose the stairs. One of the doors which had been closed earlier was now open showing some of the electrical equipment which kept this place running. It was a fascinating tour, a grim reminder of the cold war era.
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