The title might seem a little bit like clickbait, though let me explain that this is purely unintentional: over the past few weeks I have been reading up on Tbilisi's Soviet past. While most of it is negative to the point of endless propaganda to make the youth lean more to the European Union, one thing caught my eye when it comes to exploring the city: it is home to a network of at least 450 known Soviet nuclear bunkers. That's 450 known bunkers. Meaning there are many more that are yet to be discovered. It makes sense that Tbilisi's present government has no idea about these things, as with the collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgia gaining its independence, relations would've been as poor as ever. Why would the Soviets maintain that communication which tells them where their secret bunkers are as politicians change and generations pass? Logically one would not share such information. And thus the result has been the few known bunkers mixed with a series of unknown ones being found by the general public. The greatest aspect of this is that the locations of all of those nuclear bunkers are secret. Nobody really knows where they are. They're hidden and the information is not to be found online. The only way to know would be to talk to locals, to find the few that do know that grew up in the areas. Obviously this dies off as, well, people die off. Meaning these things are scattered around the city with so few actually knowing they're walking by untouched nuclear bunkers every day.
These bunkers are underground, some being small networks for communication to and from other areas of the city, others built massive to the point in which they allowed the living of people and deeper communications with areas throughout the Soviet Union. Just to know that alone speaks of the fear the Soviets had for nuclear war. The realisation that nuclear war was a genuine possibility. One would not create such a thing if this was not an unfortunate option on the table, after all. Today, some people are actually hired by the Georgian government to find and secure some of these locations. And select few are allowed to conduct legal tours to them, though ensuring their locations remain hidden.
Here's the thing, though: I've found one. I know the exact location of one of Tbilisi's secret nuclear bunkers. And I'm stupidly fascinated about it, to the point where I intend to make a trip to it and explore. That said, I completely understand why these bunkers remain secret: as someone from England, the few remaining abandoned locations would always end up destroyed. Vandalised and ruined. Their history ruined forever as people smash windows, set fire to them, and kick in walls. For the general population to know where these bunkers are throughout the city would be a catastrophe, so I won't be mentioning where it is. Though I will say it's insane how this particular bunker resides in such a populated area, one I've passed multiple times already. This fascination I now have has me wanting to explore as many as I can, to find the untouched ones and capture the history inside. As a photographer, capturing the raw, untouched life that remains in a space is a blessing. And it's one that's incredibly difficult to achieve in an era that's so digitally advanced and connected. Especially when typically an old location has already been looted, or turned into a museum. Or simply decayed to the point of nothing being left at all. The idea of roaming through a bunker that holds so much history still would be a dream. I intend on adventuring to one of them relatively soon.
As I gather more information as to what I should be looking for, I'm also starting to notice a few odd locations throughout the city. Places that have things that don't quite make sense. Shafts at the sides of buildings with odd contraptions that display no use to the occupants. All rustic and somewhat buried in time. It's said that one of the telling signs of these bunkers is often a random ventilation shaft somewhere. Not to be mistaken with the ones one might find around metro stations where the rail runs below. Though, ironically, some of these nuclear bunkers are residing in and around some metro stations here. Certainly harder to get into.
I aim to really document some of these locations in the coming months, to really make a project out of it. I just have to research a bit more, improve some gear, and ensure things are done safely to ensure neither a danger to myself nor the locations of these historical wonders. While two of the three pictures aren't entirely related, they are from my roams throughout areas of the city in search for signs of something being there. And this extra thing to pay attention to certainly has me noticing the city in a different way.
Beautiful pictures 👍