Atom muzeum Javor 51
Landmark · Borovno · Czechia
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A former Soviet nuclear warhead depot dug into the Brdy hills, the only one of its kind still standing and open to visitors. Six-tonne blast doors lead into four themed halls covering the Cold War and the American and Soviet atomic programs, kept year-round at a bunker's steady 7 degrees Celsius.
Step through the six-tonne blast doors and the corridor opens into a hall built to hold live nuclear warheads, the only one of its kind in the country still intact and open to the public. The bunker was carved into the Brdy hills starting in 1965, one of three matching facilities the Soviet army built in Czechoslovakia at the height of the Cold War, codenamed Javor 50, 51, and 52. It served as a storage site for Soviet nuclear ordnance through the Cold War, its 1,600 square metres of tunnels holding warheads under guard until the Soviet withdrawal. The museum, opened in 2013, splits the space into four halls: the Cold War, the Soviet atomic program, the American atomic program, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Exhibits include an 80 kg nuclear land mine, a model of the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and a declassified American order bearing the signature of the major who gave the go-ahead to bomb Hiroshima. Because the site is still Czech Army land, a visit only happens on a booked, guided tour, underground at a constant 7 degrees Celsius.
What you see
A steel blast door six tonnes heavy swings open onto a bare concrete corridor cut straight into the hillside, the entrance to the depot otherwise hidden among the trees of Brdy.
Practical
Open by reservation only, Saturdays at 1pm from April to the end of November; tours are guided, last about an hour, and require ID registration in advance via atommuzeum.cz.
cold warbunkermuseummilitary history
History & landmarks nearby
Common questions
- Why stop at Atom muzeum Javor 51 on a bike ride?
- A former Soviet nuclear warhead depot dug into the Brdy hills, the only one of its kind still standing and open to visitors. Six-tonne blast doors lead into four themed halls covering the Cold War and the American and Soviet atomic programs, kept year-round at a bunker's steady 7 degrees Celsius.
- Where is Atom muzeum Javor 51?
- Atom muzeum Javor 51 is in Borovno, Czechia (Czech Republic).