Underground Shelter Bezovka

Now we will together visit a network of corridors and tunnels which are hidden deep under the ground. There are several underground shelters in the Žižkov territory but we will focus on the largest of them which is located below Parukářka hill.

All about: Underground shelter Bezovka

General information on underground shelters in our territory
The local underground shelters started to occur due to the general threat. Many of these underground shelters were built in the war period especially in the frontier areas. However, in the 1950s during the Cold War the underground shelters started to rise even in the towns as fallout shelters. In the territory of the capital of Prague the shelters rank among the essential types of measures of survival in emergency situations. The shelters are administrated by Hasičský záchranný sbor (Fire & Rescue Service) of the capital of Prague. Not everybody knows that there are more than eight hundred permanent underground shelters with the total capacity 575 000 people there.

The underground shelter Bezovka
Now we will learn about one of the largest fallout shelters in the territory of Prague 3. It is an underground complex Bezovka below Parukářka. It was carried out between 1950 -1955 below Vrch svatého Kříže (Holy Cross Hill). The shelter was hollowed into rock with help of heavy technics. It was made of ferroconcrete construction which is in places even three meters thick. The underground areas, which can contain more than two thousand people, can be entered by five entrances. Three of them are situated in Prokopova street, the remaining two in Českobratrská street. The entrances are protected by huge metal doors, each weighting around four tons.

The main part of the shelter is composed of three plus three corridors constructed at right angles to each other. The complex also incorporates two three-metre high ventilation towers rising above the surface of the nearby Holy Cross Hill. The underground shelter Bezovka is unique not only for its own sanitary system but also for its own source of electricity and a big water tank. There is also an emergency broadcast studio of the Czech Radiocommunications to be found here.

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The present
Some of the underground shelter sections are open to the punblic these days such as storage areas, artificial climbing walls or a music club which is located in the top storey of the shelter.

More shelters in Prague 3
There are even more shelters in this Prague district which, however, do not contain such great capacity. In the houses of Baranova, Biskupcova, Koněvova, Olšanská and others streets secret shelters are to be found which can contain about one hundred and fifty people. More such shelters are located, besides the metro stations, e.g. in the big companies´ headquarters or in the underground garages below Náměstím Jiřího z Poděbrad.

Address:
Kryt Bezovka pod Parukářkou
Praha 3 – Žižkov

Connection:
Tram: 5, 9, 26. 55, 58 – Olšanské náměstí station
Bus: 136, 175 – Olšanské náměstí station
Metro: A – Flora (from there take a bus Nr. 136 or 175 to the station Olšanské náměstí)

Transport connection:
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Information on Prague transport: click here
Information on Prague public transport: click here

GPS: 50°5’7.897″N, 14°27’37.177″E

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