Imagine this scenario – you live in one of these war zones and suddenly a warning blares out that nuclear missiles have targeted your city. You have under 30 minutes to evacuate.
Perhaps no warning is issued. But you spot several shafts shooting across the sky – a blinding light – and everything is pulverised. All that’s left is a mushroom-shaped cloud hanging over the area.
This is the sobering lesson from visiting Russia’s Bunker-42 Cold War Museum at Taganka.
Located near the Tanganskya metro station in Moscow, the museum was built in the early 1950s as one of the many secret military bunkers in the event of a nuclear emergency with the United States.
The 7,000 square-metre facility, designed to withstand a nuclear strike, was meant to house command staff who would direct nuclear-armed bombers. Decommissioned in the 1990s, the bunker was transformed into a museum in 2006 by a private firm.
Intriguingly, the facility is 65 metres below ground and connected with Moscow’s complex metro system. In fact, many stations then were built deep enough to serve as nuclear shelters. The bunker’s entrance above ground is disguised as an ordinary two-storey building like many others in the vicinity.
To add a touch of authenticity to the visit to Bunker-42, a “Soviet official” in full uniform greeted visitors at the entrance. This official was essentially the museum guide, who taking his role seriously, spoke in a stern tone, walked with a soldier’s brisk gait and only engaged in wry humour.
Then began the long descent of 18 flights of stairs to the underground bunker to a checkpoint manned by a dummy officer.
The guide pointed out that similar bunkers exist around the world: Churchill War Rooms, Titan Missile Museum, and Marienthal.
Then it was a quiet walk through a heavily fortified metal-clad tunnel to watch a screening of the nuclear arms race between the US and former USSR before arriving at a facility showcasing the bunker’s erstwhile radio and communications machines.
This bunker can be accessed through tunnels from metro stations above, and has the capability of housing up to 600 staff for 30 days without any external assistance.
The tour’s highlight is the simulated nuclear launch facility, where visitors can try their hand at manning the control panel and executing a nuclear counter-attack emergency plan.
Shockingly, the entire process of firing inter-continental ballistic missiles and razing a whole city to dust takes only a few minutes, a stark reminder of the destructive potential of nuclear power in the wrong hands, and the fragility of human existence in the absence of peace.
Later, visitors were also shown posters and miniatures of the former USSR’s nuclear triad – a defense system encompassing land, air, and sea nuclear weapon launchers.
The most harrowing weapon in the arsenal is the R-36M missile, nicknamed Satan by Nato. It is capable of carrying a warhead 1,000 times more powerful than the Fat Man nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on Aug 9, 1945.
Finally, intrepid visitors get the chance to experience sheltering in the bunker during a nuclear attack. For this part of the visit, the group was herded into a locked tunnel, with alarms blaring overhead – certainly not for the claustrophobic or easily anxious.
Upon seeing the sunlight when resurfacing from this subterranean space, the writer couldn’t help but meditate on the horrific power of nuclear weapons, and the imperative for a stable and peaceful world.