Atomic bunker

Did you know that there is an atomic bunker under the Warandepark? This underground shelter was built in the 1930s and was initially intended as protection against enemy air strikes. The complex of cellars lies 12 meters deep under the park and is accessible via a staircase from the Cercle Royal Gaulois, the exclusive club behind the Théâtre Royale du Parc. There are tunnels leading from the Palace of the Nation, the parliament across from the Wetstraat, to this shelter. The abandoned bunker is complete with a telephone exchange, air purification system, and gas generator. It covers several hundred square meters. In the 1930s, the General Commissariat for Passive Air Defense commissioned its construction. At the handover in 1939, the Pierlot government held a brief test meeting there. Shortly thereafter, World War II broke out. The Germans found the secret bunker and established a command post from which they monitored the airspace. The Gestapo also used it to intercept resistance transmitters. In the early years of the Cold War, it was converted into a shelter against nuclear weapons, although it was not designed for the arrival of the hydrogen bomb. Civil Protection also established a national warning center there, but the site was abandoned afterward. The city of Brussels is considering giving the bunker a new purpose. However, the approval of the federal government is needed for that, as they hold a servitude over it.

Dromos