Hospital in the Rock

Hospital in the Rock & Nuclear Bunker - A labyrinthine system of tunnels inside Buda Castle Hill in Hungary ’s capital city Budapest that was turned into a bombproof hospital during WWII . It played an important role in the Siege of Budapest towards the end of the war and again during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 that was crushed by the Soviets . Later in the Cold War it was revived and expanded, and became a nuclear shelter as well. Now a museum, it’s a popular tourist attraction, but visits to the site are by guided tour only. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations More background info: Solid information about the history of this place is a bit thin on the ground, so I’m going mostly by memory of what I learned on the guided tour and through the introductory film (see below ) in addition to whatever scant info I could find online. The hills of Budapest have lots of natural caves (some are also open to tourists!), including Buda Castle Hill, and some of these have long been in use by humans, e.g. for storage, to provide shelter or as a prison … legend has it that Vlad the Impaler (the historical figure that provided the inspiration for the Dracula myth) was once incarcerated here. At the beginning of WWII it was decided to utilize and expand the bombproof underground space for a hospital, driven into the rock as an extensive system of tunnels and halls, equipped with what then was the latest technology and stocked with medical supplies. This hospital became operational in 1944, just in time for when Budapest was subjected to air raids and the Red Army was advancing from the east. There were 65 hospital beds and one double operating theatre plus supplies, a generator, water tank and so on.