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 Darmon_Richter
 
Location: Eastern Europe
 |  |  | Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
< on 10/12/2012 1:04 PM >
|  | | | Back in April I wrote a report based on a visit to an old Soviet site in Bulgaria, known as the ‘Park-Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship’.
The site was built in 1974, consisting of a massive monument (measuring 48m across by 23m high) which stands on a hill just outside one of Bulgaria’s largest Black Sea cities. It turned out the memorial was actually hollow though, and when I managed to get in I was able to explore a complicated network of tunnels and chambers inside.
The mound on which the monument stands features an old Soviet Propaganda centre inside, as well as a bookshop which would originally have been dedicated to Marxist-Leninist political books and pamphlets. From here a long flight of stairs led even further down, into the base of the hill. At the bottom I found a pair of large double doors, completely sealed off with a metal grill welded across them. According to my sources, these doors served as the entrance to a Soviet nuclear bunker built deep beneath the monument.
That’s where my last report ended. You can read it on the UER forum here:http://www.uer.ca/...=1&threadid=100979
...or check out a longer version over on my blog here: http://www.thebohe...et-propaganda.html.
I went back to the site again last week, six months after my first visit, and this time (with the help of a local guide) I was able to get inside the bunker itself.
There is absolutely no way of getting past the main doors, but the bunker has another entrance - hidden in the bushes halfway up the back of the hill. It looks as though someone tried to hide it at some point with a pile of rocks, but after you’ve climbed over the boulder in the way you’re faced with a rusted iron hatch set into the rock. Across the door, the phrase “entry strictly forbidden” is painted in Bulgarian.
While the tunnels inside have been completed stripped of furniture, I was impressed at how many features had been left in place. Abandoned sites in Bulgaria tend to get stripped very quickly, as homeless people and gypsies trade the metal for scrap money... here however, light switches, electrical fittings, metal ducts and pipes were scattered around the entire network of tunnels.
It looks as though a few heavier items had been abandoned in corridors, when looters realised they couldn't carry them any further, or fit them through the narrow doorways.
From the entrance passage the tunnel split in two - on the right was an old boiler room, while the left-hand passage led into a vast network of criss-crossed tunnels. Most of these corridors were built from large concrete cylinders, creating a slightly unsettling echo as we walked around the complex.
I was really surprised at just how large the site was - there would have been enough room for a small village down here! On either side of the main passages there were chambers and rooms which looked as though they had been used for storage, mess halls, offices and dormitories... as well as several clusters of toilets, and even one tiled room which looked as though it had once been a large communal shower.
In a couple of places there were shafts that led back up to the floor above - which contained the soviet propaganda centre I explored on my last visit. I tried climbing up one of these narrow pipes, but many of the iron rungs set into the concrete walls were falling apart from rust... and I didn't get far before I realised that trying to get to the top would have been a suicide mission.
All in all, a good explore - the tunnels were long enough that it took several hours to make our way around the whole subterranean complex, and even then there were some turnings and passages we hadn't explored... a good excuse for another visit!
Hope you enjoy the photos here. I've got a load more photos and a longer report you can check out too, over on my urbex blog.
Cheers!
DR.
Bohemian Urbex: Urban Decay & other curiosities. |
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tax_mouse
 
Location: SACRAMENTO, CA
Gender: Female
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 1 on 10/13/2012 2:28 AM >
| | | | Wow, Creepy hand prints!
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PaleAle
Location: Florida
Gender: Male
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 2 on 10/16/2012 2:59 PM >
| | | | This is amazing. Thanks for keeping us updated.
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Darmon_Richter
Location: Eastern Europe
| | | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 3 on 10/17/2012 3:23 PM >
| | | | Posted by PaleAle
This is amazing. Thanks for keeping us updated.
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Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the feedback!
DR.
Bohemian Urbex: Urban Decay & other curiosities. |
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Azazel
Location: British Columbia
Gender: Male
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 4 on 10/24/2012 7:15 PM >
| | | | Did you manage to find the opposite side of the gated entrance, by any chance?
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Hollyweeds
Location: Vancouver-Victoria-Thunder Bay-Jamaica
Gender: Female
| | | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 5 on 10/25/2012 6:13 PM >
| | | | So amazing! I always figured some of those creepy monuments were hiding something. Thank you for sharing these.
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Darmon_Richter
Location: Eastern Europe
| | | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 6 on 10/29/2012 3:51 PM >
| | | | Posted by Hollyweeds
So amazing! I always figured some of those creepy monuments were hiding something. Thank you for sharing these.
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You're very welcome...
Posted by Azazel
Did you manage to find the opposite side of the gated entrance, by any chance?
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I didn't manage to get right to the other side of the door. It seems that this area is now used as storage space for old sound systems and spotlights - the entrance can be reached from the far side of the hill.
The tunnels in this report are around 20 feet lower than the original doors I found, and the entrance is located much closer to the base of the hill.
There are concrete shafts hidden in the undergrowth nearby though, which seem to descend much deeper even than the lowest tunnels I have been into. They are all filled in now - but it seems there were more tunnels at one point, going even further down. I'm thinking it may be an emergency escape route - there is something that looks like an exit point, now boarded up, down by the sea front...
Bohemian Urbex: Urban Decay & other curiosities. |
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Lamouette/rck
 
Location: Lévis
Gender: Male
Recykle toi !
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 7 on 10/31/2012 1:19 PM >
| | | | Amazing, impressive and really fat ! Soviet seen all things in big !
Clap clap, Bravo !
ce n'est pas parce qu'ils sont beaucoup a avoir tord qu'ils ont raison ! |
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mewthree
  
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 8 on 5/14/2013 7:30 AM >
| | | | as terrible as some of those communist regimes are depicted.... they built the coolest shit bar none.
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thetrainguru
Location: Jasper AB
Gender: Male
im not crazy...wait...y es I am
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 9 on 5/26/2013 12:36 PM >
| | | |
| as terrible as some of those communist regimes are depicted.... they built the coolest shit bar none. |
well said
Create don`t destroy.
http://www.flickr....tos/104842213@N04/ |
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dammband
 
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Gender: Male
| | Re: Soviet Bunker, Bulgaria, September 2012
<Reply # 10 on 5/26/2013 7:04 PM >
| | | | Thanks for sharing. place looks great
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