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While immersed in Albania’s natural beauty it’s impossible to miss the small grey domes that sprout from mountain to coast like immense half-buried portobello mushrooms.
On closer inspection, however, Albania’s bunkers, with their flaking concrete and rusting rebar, seem to be struggling to withstand time let alone a co-ordinated frontal assault.
The bunkers are a legacy of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, once one of the world’s most isolationist communist states. Enver Hoxha, Albania’s leader from 1944 until his death in 1985, played on the country’s rich history of invasion, from the Romans to the Ottomans to the Italians during World War II.
A dedicated disciple of Stalin, Hoxha was paranoid and hard-line even by communist dictator standards. After Stalin’s death he decided Albania would pursue communism without any Soviet help. Not only was Albania suspicious of NATO countries, but also other communist states – such as Yugoslavia and China – whenever they were seen to soften their ideological stance.
Albania’s ideological isolation was expressed through a program of self-sufficiency and domestic militarisation. We are “completely surrounded geographically by fascists who send spies and diversionists into our country”, Hoxha warned in 1975.
Hoxha thus embarked upon “bunkerisation”, a plan to construct 400,000 bunkers. Eventually 173,000 were built and can still be seen throughout the country today.
Historians consider the effort less a genuine attempt to fortify the country against invasion and more about permeating Albanian society with a siege mentality. The resources expended by the small country were exceptional. Costing twice as much as France’s famously useless Maginot Line, bunkerisation consumed three times the concrete. Each of Hoxha’s pillboxes required the iron and cement of a one-room apartment, a particular sacrifice during a national housing shortage.
Aside from slowly succumbing to the elements and vandalism, the structures have met a range of fates.
At the northern end of the Bay of Porto Palermo on the Albanian Riviera, we see a submarine base in a closed military area bearing signs warning us not to enter. The base, which opens to a beautiful bay glittering in the sun, is clearly visible from the roadside.
The Cold War Tunnel, designed as a shelter in the event of a nuclear attack, lies below the old town in the southern Albanian city of Gjirokaster, and is open for tours. Built in the 1970s, the passageways stretch 800 metres into the mountain and include 59 rooms. The space was heavily pillaged when communism collapsed, so not much remains today.
Our guide takes us through a warren of dank hallways with the ever-present dripping of water and the temperature hovering around 16 degrees. Highlights are limited to exposed pipes and a rusting Czechoslovakian-made motor. We’re told the bunker was reserved for the high command, despite the egalitarian promises of the system. Even their families were forbidden entry.
The tour ends with the toilets: one stall was for the top-ranking leader and his deputy and the other two stalls were for everyone else. Given the bunker could hold up to 300 people, conditions may have become preferable amid the nuclear winter outside.
In the outer suburbs of the Albanian capital, Tirana, we visit the more impressive Bunk’Art. It appears to be another massive underground complex designed to wait out nuclear war but has been transformed into a museum that traces the history of Albania’s occupation and communist regimes.
There are poignant art installations but even with this broad scope of exhibits, empty rooms abound. The complex is simply too massive to fill.
Today Albanians reflect on the bunkers with ambivalence: they remind them of the fear that permeated their society, but also of the positive aspects of a country working together in a collective spirit. Many are proud of their effort, the ubiquitous pillboxes sinking slowly but for the moment still holding together.
The details
Fly
A range of budget carriers fly to Tirana International Airport. It is particularly well serviced by Wizz Air and RyanAir.
Drive
The best way to see the bunkers is on a road trip from Tirana. All the major car rental options are available. Local Rent is a cheaper and more flexible local option.
Visit
The nuclear fallout bunker is just one of the activities on offer in the city of Gjirokaster. You can reach Bunk’Art 1 by driving to the north-eastern outskirts of Tirana or via public transport. See visit.gjirokaster.com; bunkart.al
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