Hungary bunker museum a grim reminder amid nuclear fears

In Hungary, there is a Cold War era nuclear shelter that is publicly known - but it's a museum. The Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum is beneath Budapest's Castle district. In 1941-43, the shelter and the rock hospital were built along the lines of the natural cave system.

The hospital, originally designed for 200 patients, treated hundreds of wounded during the Second World War. From 1958, during the Cold War, the hospital was upgraded, enlarged, and became a nuclear bunker to be used in the event of a nuclear or chemical attack.

The facility, opened in 1962, was a "top secret facility" until 2002, when it was declassified. It was maintained almost daily until 2004, and opened as a permanent museum with original hospital equipment and wax figures in 2008.

According to some estimates, less than half of Budapest's 1.7 million residents would be able to find any kind of shelter in the about 3300 "life-saving facilities" in case of war, or in the event of industrial or environmental disaster.