Fort Hanička: intended as a nuclear shelter during totalitarianism, now it functions as a museum
Built to protect Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany and later repurposed as a nuclear shelter by the Communist regime, Fort Hanička served neither purpose. Today it is a museum that attracts thousands of military enthusiasts.
Hanička was initially constructed as part of the Czechoslovak fortifications in the 1930s along the northern border to defend against the increasingly militaristic Germany. Built between 1936 and 1938, it is the biggest fortress and one of the few that were fully completed, according to Pavel Minář, head of the Hanička Fortress Museum in the Orlické Mountains.
After the Munich Agreement in 1938, the entire fortification chain had to be abandoned without a fight. Mr. Minář explains more about Hanička’s early history:
“At the turn of 1940 and 1941, in the winter, the Germans were testing special munitions called Röchling, which were special sub-caliber missiles. From this period we have two beautiful pictures taken on the surface of the Hanička fortress. Back then there was one building there that was dive-bombed by air.
“And one more very interesting thing, which is already related to civilian matters: evidently, in 1942, the Germans ran Hanička as an exhibition, they were going underground, and there are still black German inscriptions on the walls. I received a verbal description of this period about five years ago when I received an envelope from Austria with some photographs in it, from a lady whose father was there in September 1942. He carefully recorded the date on the photograph. It shows a group of people with torches in front of an artillery log.”
After 1948, the forts were in the hands of the Communist regime, and in 1975 they decided to turn Hanička into a nuclear shelter. It featured state-of-the-art control panels and control lights, telephones, equipment for decontamination, and diesel generators for electricity production, all typical of the Cold War era. The head of the museum has more:
“The actual building of the atomic shelter did not start in 1975 because the whole [political] environment had to calm down first. It had to be prepared, so the work was done a little later, but between 1975 and 1995 Hanička was basically inaccessible.
“This equipment is needed to work in a phase of a possible nuclear conflict. Basically, you need to hide preferably underground with a certain capacity, say, up to 300 people, so that you can work on tasks that are normally dealt with in peacetime. The essentials of the bunker were then tested, so that all the basic and important things, like the engine room and the HVAC, were up and running, and it was fully operational.”
Visiting Hanička offers a unique glimpse into history, particularly the Cold War period of the 1970s and 1980s. The site has been carefully preserved to reflect its significance during that time.
The museum has seen strong attendance this year, with around 12,000 visitors so far.
The museum has seen strong attendance this year, with around 12,000 visitors so far. As a seasonal museum, it operates from May 1 to October 31.
The museum is open daily, except on Mondays, until August 31, with tours offered every hour from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. From September 1, the museum will switch to weekend and public holiday hours.
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