Declassified Bunker of the USSR • Hacker News Board

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#11

Post by MWarneford » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 2:09 PM UTC

Swizec wrote: post #8

How did they even build this thing? The house looks like it's from the 19th century so it doesn't look like it was torn down and built again around the bunker. Did they hollow out an old building and put a bunker in there? How did nobody notice? How do you even build something 18 storeys deep without breaking the confines of a two storey house with your equipment? This thing opens up so many questions!

Some of the pictures (http://media.englishrussia.com/112011/coldwar/coldwar003-51....) point to subway entrances. Perhaps it was built via the subway? Or at the same time?

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#12

Post by adriand » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 2:27 PM UTC

I love this line: "Now a museum of cold war is organized in the bunker where one can try on respirators, protective gear, hold different guns, etc."

You know, the usual sort of museum experience.

As interesting as this is, it's also tragic if you think about the vast resources humankind has spent on building terrible weapons and defenses against those weapons. Imagine how much farther we would be ahead as a society if what was spent on the cold war was spent on solving the world's real problems instead - climate change, poverty, hunger, and so on.

Even more tragic is that this expenditure continues, particularly by the United States, even though the cold war is over. Those of us who thought the end of the cold war meant we could move on from spending trillions on weapons were obviously rather naive.

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#13

Post by mkuhn » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 2:30 PM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #7

click170 wrote: post #5

Oh oh! Put a datacenter in there!

10 years ago during the dot com bubble there were tons of companies that bought up old missile silo's and turned them into datacenters. I don't think any of them survived.

Quite a few that store data and operate servers in old Swiss Bunkers did.

See e.g. http://www.swissfortknox.com/

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#14

Post by DuncanIdaho » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 2:31 PM UTC

adriand wrote: post #12

I love this line: "Now a museum of cold war is organized in the bunker where one can try on respirators, protective gear, hold different guns, etc." You know, the usual sort of museum experience. As interesting as this is, it's also tragic if you think about the vast resources humankind has spent on building terrible weapons and defenses against those weapons. Imagine how much farther we would be ahead as a society i…

Arguably the nuclear weapons have prevented continuation of WW2, where USSR and US would duke it out in the 50's and 60's.

Just wanted to point out that world of geopolitics and strategy is way more nuanced than an average person believes.

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#15

Post by eps » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 2:54 PM UTC

The via page gives the exact address - 5й Котельнический переулок, дом 11 - and the first hit in Google is http://bunker42.com/

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#16

Post by kls » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 3:10 PM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #7

click170 wrote: post #5

Oh oh! Put a datacenter in there!

10 years ago during the dot com bubble there were tons of companies that bought up old missile silo's and turned them into datacenters. I don't think any of them survived.

To my knowledge, Iron Mountain is still going very strong, there are a lot of fortune 500's that use them. http://www.ironmountain.com

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#17

Post by crb » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 3:13 PM UTC

There is a similar facility in England, also now a museum-of-sorts of the cold war: "the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker".

http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvedon_Hatch_Secret_Nuclear_B...

It's a fun visit, but probably a little less authentic than this museum, as it was emptied when it was decommissioned, and it's been largely re-stocked with surplus, based on what people who worked there said that it used to look like.

The local street signs are amusing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/halfbyte/2671279410/

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#18

Post by cbr » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 3:14 PM UTC

The blue flat panel displays in the first picture and farther down are confusing. They're clearly not original, only a few years old. Perhaps the museum people did some reconstruction? I wonder what else we're seeing is reconstruction of what they thought a soviet bunker should look like.

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#19

Post by patrickk » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 3:22 PM UTC

adriand wrote: post #12

I love this line: "Now a museum of cold war is organized in the bunker where one can try on respirators, protective gear, hold different guns, etc." You know, the usual sort of museum experience. As interesting as this is, it's also tragic if you think about the vast resources humankind has spent on building terrible weapons and defenses against those weapons. Imagine how much farther we would be ahead as a society i…

I agree with you in one sense, however the huge military expenditure allowed Silicon Valley to emerge.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=secret+histor...

You could drive yourself mad playing a game of "what if we did things this way instead?"

Re: Declassified Bunker of the USSR

#20

Post by crb » Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 3:24 PM UTC

eps wrote: post #15

The via page gives the exact address - 5й Котельнический переулок, дом 11 - and the first hit in Google is http://bunker42.com/

"In the center of Moscow at 65 meters underground there is an unique object which territory contains a perfectly equipped conference-hall, a karaoke-bar and an interactive museum."