Cold War tunnel

You are standing in front of the Gjirokastër tourist information centre, on Çerçiz Topulli Square, where you can buy a ticket to visit the Cold War tunnel and join a guided tour. The entrance is very close by, carved into the rock beneath the hillside, just below the castle that dominates the city. This vast underground complex was built in the early 70s, at the height of the communist era, and stands as one of the clearest symbols of the extreme security paranoia of Enver Hoxha’s regime, which was convinced that a foreign invasion could happen at any moment. Stretching for around 800 metres, the tunnel includes nearly sixty rooms linked by a maze of narrow, reinforced corridors, all buried deep beneath the hill. It was designed as a strategic shelter to protect senior officials of the regime, the military and local authorities in the event of an attack, including a nuclear one, a threat the leadership considered permanent. The tunnel is a direct product of Albania’s total isolation during the Cold War, following successive breaks with the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and later China, leaving the country without allies and convinced it was surrounded by enemies. The galleries are lined with thick layers of concrete meant to withstand powerful explosions, and the complex was equipped with command rooms, offices, dormitories, food stores, water tanks, air filtration systems, power generators and even areas reserved for the political police and the regime’s justice system. Everything was planned to allow people to survive underground for days, or even weeks. Built under the strictest secrecy, the tunnel remained largely unknown to the population until the collapse of communism in the early 90s. Throughout the 70s and 80s, civil defence drills and military exercises were regularly organised, sometimes involving civilians, in a society constantly mobilised for a war that never came. After 1990, part of the interior was looted and the site was abandoned for many years, but it retained a stark, authentic atmosphere, with damp walls, heavy armoured doors and original features still in place. Today, the tunnel has been partially opened to visitors, with discreet lighting and minimal signage, allowing you to explore this unique place while preserving its original, unsettling character.