Bunker-42 Cold War Museum

Meshchansky & Basmanny


On a quiet side street near Taganskaya pl, a nondescript neoclassical building is the gateway to the secret Cold War–era communications centre. The facility was meant to serve as the communications headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. As such, the building was just a shell, serving as an entryway to the 7000-sq-metre space 60m underground. Now in private hands, the facility has been converted into a sort of a museum dedicated to the Cold War.

Unfortunately, not much remains from the Cold War days. The vast place is nearly empty, except for a few exhibits set up for the benefit of visitors, such as a scale model of the facility. Visitors watch a 20-minute film about the history of the Cold War, followed by a guided tour of the four underground ‘blocks’. Call beforehand to sign up for a tour.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Meshchansky & Basmanny attractions

1. Vysotsky Cultural Centre

0.23 MILES

Part museum, part performance space, part art exhibit, this cultural centre pays tribute to local legend Vladimir Vysotsky (1938–80). Singer and…

2. Museum of the Russian Icon

0.36 MILES

This museum houses the private collection of Russian art patron Mikhail Abramov. He has personally amassed a collection of more than 4000 pieces of…

3. Kotelnicheskaya Apartment Block

0.44 MILES

Completed in 1940, this 176m Stalinist skyscraper towers over the south of the city, at the confluence of the Moscow and Yauza Rivers.

4. Novospassky Monastery

0.73 MILES

Novospassky Monastery, a 15th-century fort-monastery, is about 1km south of Taganskaya pl. The centrepiece of the monastery, the Transfiguration Cathedral…

5. Sakharov Centre

0.75 MILES

South of Kursky vokzal, by the Yauza River, is a small park with a two-storey house containing a human-rights centre named after Russia's most famous…

6. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum

0.82 MILES

Russia’s foremost stage museum, founded in 1894, is in the neo-Gothic mansion on the north side of Paveletskaya pl. The museum exhibits all things…

8. Ecclesiastic Residence

1.02 MILES

Across the road running south of Novospassky Monastery is the sumptuous Ecclesiastic Residence. It was the home of the Moscow metropolitans after the…