A Trip Inside A Communist Anti-Nuclear Shelter

Been stressed and sick during the week, I decided to take off my mind going in Bunk’Art, a bunker turned into an art-historical museum. It was open to the public on November 28th, 2014 to celebrate the 100th Albanian Independence Day. I don’t know why I never went there before. After I borrowed again my friend’s awful camera, I was ready to go. To be honest, I went with no high expectations, just another boring museum I thought. But I was wrong.

A few words about Bunk’art. Technically, it's a palace in the shape of oval cupola (typical of bunkers) consisting of 5 floors all under a mountain, with 106 rooms. The cupola is made of 1 m thick concrete. There is again concrete covering the rooms and halls. Its main purpose was to serve as a shelter and main military operations base in case of nuclear war and other kinds of attacks for the dictator Enver Hoxha, prime minister of that time, Mehmet Shehu, and The Bureau members. The Bunker work began in 1973 and it was finished in 1978. It was kept secret for more than 40 years until the current government decided to turn into a historical and art center.

After we arrived in the hillside of the mountain Dajti, I was wondering how the communist leaders would arrive there, it's far away from their houses and offices, the famous Ex-Block. In fact, there are secret tunnels whose main entrance is around the former Central Committee building, not open to the public. And the other question which I was not able to find a proper answer is that: how they were able to keep secret such a big building which needed a lot of workforce? What happened to them? The easy assumption would be they were executed, which was an easy thing to be ordered by the dictator Enver Hoxha. But that's just a theory.

The atmosphere was intense. You could feel the communist "aroma" immediately after you purchased the ticket. We were greeted by two real soldiers, dressed in communist military uniform.

I took a lot of photos. Trust me, they don't justice.

The doors of contamination rooms, thick 20 cm.

The former dictator Enver Hoxha. What a douche (pardon my French)

The first room you see is the “suite” of Enver Hoxha. It has a pre-room, studio, bedroom and bathroom. His room and Mehmet Shehu’s room are the only luxurious ones. Still, dictator’s room was more luxurious, covered with fibers that at that time, it was quite expensive. Prime minister’s room is covered with wood. The other people would have had to use a common bathroom.

The "suite" of Mehmet Shehu, who at that time was prime minister. He committed suicide in 1981. After his suicide, all his family members were arrested and persecuted as traitors of the country. It was clear that his suicide was a political kill, ensuring a stronger hold of power for Enver Hoxha.

That's me in the pre-room of Enver's suite. I am such a busy woman [sigh]

The halls were narrow. Only a person would be able to pass.

A normal room for the rest of people.

The War Room

Intercommunication Room

A Chinese Bike produced by "The Forever", very rare nowadays. If you zoom in the previous picture, Intercommunication room, you can easily recognize that all equipments are from China. It makes sense. This bunker was built after Enver cut off any diplomatic relation with Russians, and he started diplomatic relations with China. On their side, China offered a lot of financial and technological aid. You will be surprised to know that there are some Albanians that speak Chinese language.

Bunker Art Room dedicated to all soldiers and politically persecuted people who died digging tunnels. There was an ambitious project to build 206 000 bunkers all over Albania. They built only 168 000 bunkers.

A typical communist classroom. That's me in action.

The Exit. At that point, I was freezing. I shoud have taken a coat with me.

It was definitely a well spent Sunday. There are rooms with art installations and the other rooms giving a brief preview of Albanian communism regime , pre and post World War II era, and the diplomatic relationship between Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Russia and China. I asked for some brochures but the ticket shop didn't have any.

The only thing I kept thinking was : I was lucky to have never lived and experienced the Albanian communism. There was a lot of propaganda, executions and oppressions of basic human rights. More than 13 000 Albanian tried to escape the country, of whom 988 were killed.

I still live with its consequences, though.