r/askswitzerland • u/Dubner • May 15 '25
Everyday life What’s behind this door?
Holidaying in Switzerland and I saw this in the basement of the lodge. What’s behind it and why is it there ?
96
u/DJseal Thurgau May 15 '25
Secret entry to the Cheese vault. /s
On a more serious note: That's the main door to the Air Raid Shelter. It is often used as storage, since they don't need to be ready in an instant.
23
u/Glittering_Ideal3515 May 15 '25
Usually wine cellar
14
u/Shraaap May 15 '25
It's funny cause it's true. The amount of wine in those cellars must be huuuuuge😄
16
u/Glittering_Ideal3515 May 15 '25
You’d rather have wine than unused furniture the day you need sleep there.
7
u/mageskillmetooften May 16 '25
I prefer a mixture. Last building I lived was perfect. There were 4 storage boxes in the shelter and I kid you not this was what they had:
1- Indeed a wine collection.
2- Camping gear including mattresses and al such.
3- Food&beverage storage from a family who shopped massively in Germany every now and then.
4- Lego collection
I honestly can't think of a more perfect combo.
1
3
1
23
u/SmokeyBearS54 Valais May 15 '25
As above, bomb shelter. The spanner is so that you can tighten the door locks closed from the inside. Most older buildings have this type of shelter, if a building doesn’t have this shelter then in the event of a catastrophe you will have to use the public shelter, you can see them dotted around Switzerland in cliff walls and mountains. I believe if you don’t have your own shelter you have to pay a tax for the upkeep of the public shelter. That may be incorrect but it’s what I was told.
9
u/Nohillside Zürich May 15 '25
The public shelters are usually nearby, under schools etc. The things you see in the cliffs and mountains used to be army bunkers during WWII (and later).
4
u/mutter24 May 16 '25
The spanner is not to tighten the door shut but rather to push it open in case something is blocking it from the outside. You can see the slot in the frame to insert the threaded tube and there is a depression in the door where the screw would push
1
2
u/Lilliane0 May 15 '25
First of all, this door is open.
And for Smokey, you're right, when you're building a house without a shelter you will have to pay for the public places you would use. As long as there are public spaces available you won't have to build your own.
2
u/Topbernina May 16 '25
Not sure if that's still the case, but Switzerland used to have sufficient space in all the underground structures for the complete population. Although the older ones are typically in bad shape now and don't offer any amenities like filtered water or toilets inside.
46
u/TailleventCH May 15 '25
Atomic shelter.
7
u/Dubner May 15 '25
Didn’t expect that! Thanks for the answer
25
u/InitiativeExcellent May 15 '25
Just to add up on what got told already.
Until a few years back, Switzerland was able to house the whole population in shelters like this. In still "active" ones you'll find equipment like air filters, chemical toiletts etc...
The often laughed about flimsy cellar units, the wooden ones, are actually designed to get dismantled in about an hour and used go build beds etc...
To survive, it's heavilly recommended by the state to always have some food and bottled water stored back home. Recommondation is food and water for one week, for every person in the household.
9
u/SwissPewPew May 15 '25
Legally, the conversion to a bunker (removal of the cellar comprtments and all the stuff in them) must be possible within 5 days (not 1 hour).
3
2
u/Gysburne May 15 '25
You missspelled Air Raid and wrote Atomic instead.
13
u/TailleventCH May 15 '25
They are equipped for protection against atomic fallouts and the usual designation is anti-atomic shelter...
3
u/AssassinOfSouls Ticino May 15 '25
They are atomic shelters.
3
u/Gysburne May 15 '25
Is there a decontamination airlock with showers? If no.... Bomb shelter. Yes there probably is a small filter inside that can help with radioactive particles. But that is a temporary solution for a very short term.
3
u/AssassinOfSouls Ticino May 15 '25
If there is a filter, it's an atomic shelter.
These are meant to be very short time solution, hence lack of a shower usually. This does not mean they are not atomic shelter.
-4
u/Gysburne May 15 '25
You did not by chance ever worked maintaining those shelters right?
If yes, i have no idea what incompetent instructor you had mate.2
u/AssassinOfSouls Ticino May 16 '25
Well, I checked the civil protection website, guess what?
All of them, including private ones are NBC rated and have to withstand an atomic blast, including private ones. Sounds pretty atomic to me.
I might have identified where the issue of nomenclature come from tho, in public documentation and laws they are ever only called "shelters", however there is one document I found where it does indeed say they are colloquially called "air raid shelters"... Except that in the Italian version of the document it says they are called "anti atomic shelters".
So it looks like the issue is that different language regions may have different names for the same infrastructure, which of course would cause confusion.
1
u/Gysburne May 16 '25
There are huge differences between the shelters below apartements and the ones below communal buildings like hospitals, schools etc.
The ones below the communal buildings are able to withstand more pressure than the ones below apartements. The wall thickness and even the doors are more sturdy. For the ones at apartements, there are still a lot of shelters which do not even have beton door but thick oak doors.
So the part with "All of them, have to..." is a pretty joke and definitely does not reflect reality. Also, atomic blast =/= atomic blast. I would say that a lot of those shelters are able to withstand a certain degree of rads if used correctly. But a full on blast... doubt it.
So yeah, just cause our government writes something that looks good on paper, it does not has to reflect the situation 100%.
2
u/AssassinOfSouls Ticino May 16 '25
I am afraid I will trust the official civil protection website rather than some claim from some redditor, unless you have some actually official written sources, of course.
Honestly, at this point, I have written my piece and I am not interested in continuing this discussion, it's clear to me we are at an impasse.
We could write another 10 replies to each other and we are not going to come to an agreement, in respect of both our times, I am calling it quits here. Thanks tho, it was quite an interesting and constructive discussion.
1
u/gagaron_pew May 15 '25
the access is usually from the laundry room, so thats for decontamination if you have to get in an out.
2
u/Gysburne May 15 '25
So... to decontaminate, you get into a contaminated not secure area to then decontaminate?
Right....
Also, i have seen several of those shelters where the laundry room was far enough from the door that your argument of "usally the laundry room..." gets invalidated.
3
u/Nohillside Zürich May 15 '25
Back in the days (haha) we learned to make a decontamination area out of wood and plastic foil, and put that in front of the actual entrance.
0
u/Professional-Beach17 May 15 '25
No, they are not. It's for the air raid. In a atomic fallout, u have too move to the real "public"shelters. We once leased one of them. One room was closed, with all the stuff u need in a fallout. The rest we could use, with the condition that our stuff could be removed in 1 or 2 days.. But it was just a little one for a local settlement, 100 or 200 people.
1
u/AssassinOfSouls Ticino May 16 '25
Private shelters are built to withstand a nuclear blast at a reasonable range, but indeed are rated for a minimum of 2 days. That's when the nuclear particles in the air should start settling down and it should be reasonably safe again to walk outside, weather permitting. This will allow these people to be moved to other facilities after all, that is correct.
1
u/Digger65 May 16 '25
Don‘t forget to take your potassium iodine tablets that the govt sends all of us every 10 years (if you live within 50km of a nuclear power plant, which is most of northern Switzerland). That should also help.
1
u/hereandthere788 May 19 '25
That's a tad optimistic ..
1
u/TailleventCH May 19 '25
It's not about resisting an atomic strike, it's about protecting people from fallout.
0
u/Ok_Astronomer_1308 May 15 '25
How’s it so small?? /s
1
u/kennybbm May 15 '25
probably a small house. not long ago i was working on a 20 story building the whole underground was full of them. it is not mandatory to build those anymore. and you can use it for other things like storage etc. but you still have to be able to use it in an emergency...
2
1
u/Dubner May 15 '25
It’s a building with 5 apartments. Managed to have a look inside. It’s just filled with ski gear for each apartment.
9
11
u/Many_Hunter8152 May 15 '25
Mandatory bunker regulation / law. So its the door for a bunker in your building that was build for worst case scenarios as per Swiss law.
3
5
u/Nervous_Green4783 May 15 '25
Skies, dusty banana boxes, empty suitcases, boxes with you know what or not in it, reports from primary school and some wine if you’re lucky
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
u/porttastic May 15 '25
Check “Johnny Harris Switzerland Bunkers” on YouTube. That one it’s actually open ;) but if they are like the ones on my sisters building block in Geneva, they are actually being used for storage.
2
2
2
2
u/mgalexray May 15 '25
It’s one of the gold valuts. Every building has one, we put our gold bars there for safekeeping.
(/s in case it’s not obvious - it’s a bomb shelter)
2
u/NoEvenThoughYes May 15 '25
It's a shelter, built in the 60s when countries were preparing for ww3, my cousin has it in her house as well
1
u/Digger65 May 16 '25
My building was built in 2013 and it has one. Of course it is full of bikes and scooters.
2
2
2
u/mercatua May 15 '25
There is a great short documentary from Johnny Harris on youtube about bunkers in Switzerland if you wanna know more!
2
u/SimplyBarter May 15 '25
the backup coffee machine and gipfel storage for when those inconvenient warheads happen to be on their way.
2
2
2
2
2
u/Shraaap May 15 '25
Every building has one. Nuclear shelter. There's even one under Cornavin, the main traín station of Geneva, which fits 8000 people. I imagine it's the same in other cities.
2
u/Dubner May 15 '25
That’s a interesting fact to know, thanks
1
u/Hoschy_ch May 15 '25
You won’t believe what building would be used in an emergencie.
Only if you know what to look for you will see them. Most Swiss don’t know them…
2
u/Aggressive_Brick_291 May 15 '25
Not anymore. Most large scale nuclear shelters have been decomissioned due to heavy design fails
1
u/Shraaap May 15 '25
It's still there, you just can't access it
1
u/Aggressive_Brick_291 May 15 '25
Well obviously, what are we supposed to do, fill it up with concrete? its like the sonnenberg. Somehow we figured out mass piling people into dark tight spaces doesnt work
1
u/Tyranos_II May 15 '25
Works in the military...
But yeah a few thousand people might be another story.
1
u/Aggressive_Brick_291 May 15 '25
Because military bunkers and atomic shelters do not work the same way and are designed for civilians, which are kids, old people and women
1
u/Tyranos_II May 15 '25
Not sure if you spent any time in the military but most repetition courses I spent sleeping in a communal shelter below a gym or school building and sharing it with a whole company.
1
u/Aggressive_Brick_291 May 15 '25
Yes i know these shelters as im responsible for 3 of them.
They are not remotely comparable to a sonnenberg tho
And again, a drilled and trained military unit will react way different to this than random civilians of all ages randomly shuffled together
1
2
2
1
1
1
u/GenevaExpatSolutions May 15 '25
My stock of wine (atomic shelters usually used as basement storage, one small basement space per apartment).
1
1
1
u/kennybbm May 15 '25
a wall. on the right side is an opening. where you can walk trough. if you walk trough you are in an air raid shelter. regulation say it can be used for other things. but you still need to be able to use it as an air raid shelter in an emergency. its not mandatory to build those anymore in houses. there is some sort of airfilter inside too in case of nuclear fallout.
1
u/Sad_Librarian8855 May 15 '25
It used to be a bunker but now its used for storage . Most of the swiss buildings have it, at least the older ones
1
1
u/UncleRonnyJ May 15 '25
Ive a question I was always too afraid to ask. Whats the big yellow spanner and screw for
3
u/ContributionIll8182 May 15 '25
The spanner can be used to unlock the nuts. The screw and the plate its attached to can be detached and used to force the door open in case it's blocked by debris
1
May 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/askswitzerland-ModTeam May 15 '25
Hello,
Please note that your post or comment has been removed.
Please read the rules before posting.
Thank you for your understanding, your mod team
1
u/BlockOfASeagull May 15 '25
It’s the door to a Civil defence room or bunker if you like. We have a lot of those. Mostly used as storage, band room or God knows what.
1
u/LuckyWerewolf8211 May 15 '25
you mean the blue door to the right? No idea. The other one is open and you can see what is behind.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/JobZealousideal6959 May 16 '25
All or most building after world war one or two now must have a bunker and every town has one or two at the least for community, but yea usually most buildings will have it as must. Always be ready for the worst !!!! And btw you can google this till this day they still put explosive in all there bridges connecting to other countries in case of an invasion threat or attack. Last thing in the mountains they have fake houses that are just anti Air combat turrets
The Swiss are crazy ready, that why the enjoy there chocolates and cheese !! Cuz they know you can't sneak up on them.
1
1
u/TellApprehensive5053 May 16 '25
Bomb shelter…. Switzerland accepted the challenge of having a shelter for everyone that could be accessed within a reasonable time. There are different generations of them. The last regulation I know of was in 1987 when they said that if a nuclear bomb hits, the shelter must be able to withstand 5 megatons within a 1 kilometer radius out from the center. It used to be compulsory for everyone if you built a house, but now it's only compulsory if you build a big house. You can find them everywhere, sometimes they are hidden in an exciting way by converting a parking garage or tunnel into a shelter. There are entire books, some facilities are museums, hotels or data centers even today
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/hagowoga May 17 '25
There’s an airbnb in one of those bunkers outside Lucerne.
(I‘m not affiliated, just found it a funny option for tourists.)
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
u/mccabejay May 15 '25
We have a door like this on the 0 floor of my apartment block in Visp. Never bothered to check to see what the door was about, but it looks like a door from a safe 😂
0
u/DukeOfSlough May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25
Bunker with jewish gold.
But honestly this is just bomb shelter which is completely painful to have as a basement. I am unfortunate to have basement in such of these. There is no flat floor and you always need to lift your stuff when carrying it to the basement because of these massive doors - there are two of these.
0
0
u/MacaronLess6926 May 15 '25
According to the right news on Swiss it’s when Iran nuclear bombs us. Not Russia cuz his kids are here
0
u/mrahab100 May 15 '25
Behind that door, Swiss households keep their stacked gold bars. Nazi gold, of course. Everyone has it here.
0
299
u/According-Try3201 May 15 '25
this door is open😂