In pictures: Inside former Swiss army bunkers
- Published
Bunkers built to defend Switzerland in case of invasion during World War Two and the Cold War are being given new life as restaurants, data centres or storage depots.
A machine-gun bunker, part of a former Swiss artillery fortress called Fuchsegg, is camouflaged as a stable, beside the Furka mountain-pass road near the village of Realp. Built in 1943, the fortress remained in military use until 1993.
This former bunker on the St Gotthard mountain pass is now home to the Hotel La Claustra.
The hotel's restaurant can be found in one of the caverns that formed the army bunker.
The company Gotthard-Pilze produces some 24 tonnes of shiitake mushrooms per year in 11 former bunkers. Here, Alex Lussi picks one inside a former ammunition bunker near the town of Erstfeld.
Shelves that once held ammunition racks now hold raclette cheeses.
Built from 1937 to 1939, Reuenthal fortress, on the Swiss-German border near the rivers Rhine and Aare, remained in military use until 1988. Now, it is a museum.
Another former-bunker-turned-museum is in the town of Faulensee. This artillery control was part of a fort that was operational from 1943 to 1993.
A former infantry bunker is camouflaged as a medieval house in the town of Duggingen. During World War Two, Switzerland had about 8,000 bunkers and shelters. In the 1990s, a programme to reduce that number was set up, with some sold off and others sealed up or preserved as historical sites.
This former control room has been preserved at a decommissioned military command bunker near Attinghausen.