The Project
About
Bunkers of Switzerland is an independent research and documentation project dedicated to cataloguing, exploring, and telling the stories of Switzerland’s extraordinary hidden bunker network.
Beneath the picturesque Alps lies one of the most remarkable infrastructure stories in modern history. Over 360,000 bunkers and fallout shelters — enough to protect every person in the country — built across 140 years of military planning, Cold War paranoia, and a national culture of preparedness that has no parallel anywhere in the world.
Yet no single resource existed to document this network comprehensively. The information was scattered across travel listicles, one-off news articles, museum websites in three languages, and partially classified military records. This project exists to change that.
What We Do
We are building the most comprehensive English-language resource on Swiss bunkers and fortifications. This includes an interactive database of documented sites with coordinates, construction dates, current status, and visitor information. It includes deep-dive editorial content covering the history, engineering, policy, and human stories behind the network. And it includes practical travel guides for anyone who wants to explore these sites in person.
Our Sources
Our research draws from Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection publications, declassified military records, the Swiss National Redoubt historical archive, academic research, investigative journalism from SWI swissinfo.ch and Swiss media, firsthand site visits, museum documentation, and photographic archives including the work of Christian Schwager, Leo Fabrizio, and Arnd Wiegmann.
We are committed to accuracy. If you spot an error, know of a bunker we haven’t documented, or have photographs or information to contribute, we want to hear from you.
Contribute
This project grows through community knowledge. If you are a bunker museum operator, a military historian, a photographer who has documented Swiss fortifications, a Swiss resident who knows about a bunker we haven’t listed, or simply someone passionate about this topic — we would love to collaborate.
Reach out at info@bunkersofswitzerland.com