Tagansky Protected Command Point

Exhibition complex Bunker-42

Model of the bunker layout
Established	1951 (1951)
Location	115172, Moscow, 5th Kotelnichesky Lane
Coordinates	55°44′30″N 37°38′57″E / 55.741735°N 37.649277°E / 55.741735; 37.649277Coordinates: 55°44′30″N 37°38′57″E / 55.741735°N 37.649277°E / 55.741735; 37.649277
Type	Cold War Museum
Public transit access	Taganskaya, 5 min walk
Website	museum%20website

Entrance is masked as an old building

The Tangansky Protected Command Point, also known as An-02 (1947), FS-293 (1951), FS-572 (1953), and GO-42 (from 1980), as well as RFQ "Tagan" (and now known as the exhibition complex bunker-42) is a once-secret military complex, bunker, and Spare Long-Range Aviation Command Post (ET-42) in Moscow, Russia, near the underground station of Taganskaya. It has an area of 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft) and is situated at a depth of 65 metres (213 ft) below ground.^[1]

History

Construction of the facility began in 1951, in connection with the early threat of nuclear war with the United States. The underground complex was built using the same technique that was used in the construction of the subway. Tunnels of the complex are connected by two strokes with the Moscow subway - station "Taganskaya" circle line metro. The first move was used to supply the facility, and leads to a tunnel between metro stations "Kurskaya" and "Taganskaya", the second leads directly to the station "Taganskaya ring" in the technical areas.^[2]

In 1956, the facility operated as an emergency command post headquarters and long-range aviation communications. Every 24 hours, personnel, including technical staff, were changed over at the facility. In order to prevent combat anxiety the staff worked in short shifts in order to stay alert. According to recollections of veterans, many worked for a number of other institutions, including the central telegraph, radio studio, and Geodetic laboratory.^[2]

In the 1960s the bunker was fully equipped with everything needed in the case of a nuclear attack. Stocks of food, fuel, two artesian wells to provide clean drinking water, over a long period of time.^[2]

In the mid-seventies due to a backlog of technical problems (lack of waterproofing, aging of diesel generators and ventilation systems), it was decided to reconstruct part of the bunker. The command post was supposed to be converted to the needs of the central telegraph office, however the plans never went ahead and in 1995 the bunker was fully declassified.

In the Russian federal budget for 2001, one million rubles of capital investments were invested in the site.^[3]

Private ownership and Museum

In 2006, the bunker was put up by the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management for public auction and purchased by a private company, "Novick-Service", for 65,000,000 rubles with plans to turn it into an entertainment complex with a Cold War museum, a restaurant, and possibly a spa. After the takeover, the only objects unaltered are a massive steel door and steel paneling in the bunker. As of April 2007, it is possible to book excursions around the 600-metre-long network of tunnels.

In March 2012, part of the bunker had been renovated and renovation is still in progress in some parts of the bunker.

Capacity

Up to 3,000 people could live and work there for 90 days without assistance from the outside world, thanks to stores of food and medicine, an air recycling system and diesel generators. One entrance to the bunker leads to the Taganskaya metro station, workers used to commute to the complex on special metro trains that ran at night.

See also

• The Cold War Museum - a Cold War museum in Warrenton, Virginia
• Plokštinė missile base - a Cold War museum in Lithuania

References

External links

• Photos of the bunker - Flickr.com