They made the best of the worst! The bunkers were turned into museums

For 40 years, Albania was a completely closed country under various regimes, and one such was the ban on religion and religious celebrations. The communist dictator Enver Hoxha, during his reign, in addition to conducting secret operations, ordered the construction of more than 750,000 bunkers throughout Albania. The bunkers were built from 1960 until his death in 1985.

And why did he build so many bunkers? Because he was panickingly afraid of attacks from other countries.

After the collapse of the communist regime, some of the abandoned bunkers were given a completely different purpose. Thus, two nuclear shelters were turned into interesting history museums in Tirana! Bunk’Art 1 was a bunker of the Albanian army during communism, located near the Dajti mountain. The bunker contains more than 100 rooms, which now house exhibits from the Cold War era.

Museum BunkArt 2, Photo: Dreamstime

Bunk’Art 2 was a communist-era Ministry of the Interior bunker designed to manage Tirana in the event of war. The museum contains more information about the Albanian police from that time, but also about prisons, labor camps, and victims of communism.

If you find yourself in Albania, then you definitely have to visit them, and until then, visit their website for more information.