Bourgas bomb shelter to become ‘bewitched’ tourist attraction
Bourgas, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea, is to turn a Cold War-era bomb shelter built to accommodate 3500 people into a “Bewitched Underground City” tourist attraction by the summer of 2013.
The bomb shelter, in Bourgas’s Sea Garden, was donated by its owner, the Interior Ministry.
Built in the 1940s, the bomb shelter covers 3180 sq m and has corridors adding up to more than three km. In the 1980s, the shelter was sealed up because of its neglected condition. Two of the exits of the bomb shelter lead directly to the beach.
Now the plan is to transform it into an underground city with shipwrecks, an aquarium, re-creations of old Bourgas and space for art exhibitions.
The entrance to the planned maze will welcome visitors with light and sound effects and interactive attractions, princes and monsters, knights and robbers, local media said. The idea is to have 10 “galleries” and a retro café.
One of the abandoned halls of the bomb shelter will become a shipwreck where visitors can meet the crew of Captain Hook. Another will be a revival of old Bourgas, with street musicians, cafes, and small cobblestone streets.
There will be an “Oracle” gallery where visitors, by giving their names and dates of birth, will be rewarded with tales of their past lives and their futures, local reports said.
The space for new artists is intended for art performances and installations.
(Photo: Vammpi)
