Disused subterranean spaces like former mines, quarries, tunnels, bunkers and catacombs can offer just the right combination of spaciousness, moodiness, natural drama and a sense of gravity to house museums and other places of learning. Often making use of raw, rocky walls, cavernous proportions and the temperature-regulating insulation of the earth, these underground museums give us opportunities to explore spaces that are typically closed to the public.

TIRPITZ Museum in Denmark by BIG

Tucked into the sandy shorelines of Blåvand, Denmark, TIRPITZ Museum by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) transforms a former German WWII bunker into a cultural complex housing a venue, exhibits and galleries. “The heavy hermetic object is countered by the inviting lightness and openness of the new museum,” say the architects. “The galleries are integrated into the dunes like an open oasis in the sand – a sharp contrast to the nazi fortress’ concrete monolith.”

Salina Turda Salt Mines Turned Museum, Romania

A cavernous salt mine deep beneath Transylvania, built in the 17th century, is now the world’s largest salt mining history museum. The alien-like quality of the unusual timber structures built within it, along with the suspended tube lights, augment the sense of being in an otherworldly place. These structures offer recreational attractions like a mini golf course, bowling lanes and a ferris wheel. The museum is completely free of allergens and most bacteria and maintains 80% humidity naturally.

Centre for International Light in an Old Storage Cellar, Germany

The world’s one and only light art museum resides beneath the German city of Unna in former brewery storage cellars, hosting site-specific exhibitions by artists like Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell and Joseph Kosuth. The Centre for International Light Art is definitely a hidden gem, attracting just 25,000 visitors per year, partially due to the fact that local laws require limited capacity tours for safety reasons in case of the need for evacuation.

Paris Underground: Catacombs, Tunnels and Unofficial Arts Spaces

Perhaps one of the world’s best-known subterranean historical spaces, the Catacombs hold an estimated 6 million bodies from the Cimetieres des Saints-Innocents as well as a vast network of underground tunnels and rooms, most of which are closed to the public. In addition to officially sanctioned attractions (which also include a museum documenting the history of the French sewer system and the ancient ruins beneath Notre Dame) the tunnels and quarries hold countless works of street art and are often used as settings for informal and often illegal events – and as housing. These images were captured by photojornalist Stephen Alvarez for National Geographic.

Messner Mountain Museum Corones by Zaha Hadid, italy

Telescoping out of the summit plateau of Plan de Corones in the Italian Alps, the Messner Mountain Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects celebrates the career of climber Reinhold Messner – the first to make it to the top of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen — and explores the sport of mountain climbing. Underground gallery spaces contain photographs of the climber’s life and adventures while the three protruding volumes offer views of the alpine landscape. Messner himself designed much of the structure.

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10 Subterranean Museums Reclaiming Abandoned Mines Tunnels Cellars Docks

Abandoned subterranean pits once used to mine everything from gold to salt have been reclaimed as theme parks, restorative spas for asthmatics, data centers, cathedrals and even the world’s largest underground bike park. These 12 projects reclaim disused mines both above and below the surface of the earth, restoring communities devastated by strip mining and making smart use of the secure, insulating properties of subterranean spaces.

Mega-Cavern Bike Park, Kentucky

A former limestone mine 100 feet below the surface of Louisville, Kentucky is now the world’s largest underground bike park at 320,000 square feet. The Mega Underground Bike Park maintains a steady temperature around 60 degrees year-round and features over 45 trails marked for different skills and styles.

Salt Mines to Subterranean Theme Park, Romania

You’ll feel like you’re accessing another world altogether when you ride an elevator nearly 400 feet to the bottom of an old salt mine in Romania, exiting to take in strange architectural shapes set on black bodies of water, dotted with surreal LED lighting and surrounded by soaring cave walls. First excavated in the 17th century, the Turda Salt Mines feature a playground, ferris wheel, mini golf course, sports arena, amphitheater and bowling lanes in addition to views of the restored mining equipment and the cavern itself.

World’s Largest Underground Trampoline in a Slate Mine, Wales

Children and adults alike bounce gleefully upon trampolines suspended from a Welsh slate quarry mining cavern twice the size of St. Paul’s Cathedral. ‘Bounce Below’ is the world’s largest underground trampoline, with a system of bouncy surfaces strung from the walls ascending between 20 and 180 feet from the cavern floor. Ten-foot net walls keep everyone from bouncing right out.

Limestone Mine to Data Center, Kansas City, Missouri

The SubTropolis Technology Center in Kansas City, Missouri is a limestone mine converted to an underground data center, where the limestone walls act as insulation, absorb heat from the equipment and provide natural security. Making use of this existing space saved 3-6 months of construction work; the walls were left raw and very little above-ground architecture was required.

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Rocky Ruins Reclaimed Mining Facilities Transformed

Subterranean spaces now silent, dank and cobwebbed once bustled with activity – often of the illicit variety – housing secret speakeasies, opium dens, bootlegging operations and hubs for human trafficking. Others were literally entire cities unto themselves, complete with roller skating rinks. Some are still a mystery, decades after their discovery. These 10 once-thriving underground complexes were abandoned for many years and nearly forgotten as the cities above them evolved.

Ancient Underground Tunnels of Germany

Nobody has any clue why a network of claustrophobic stone tunnels emerge into the kitchens of farmhouses, the aisles of churches and the center of cemeteries in a small town near Munich. The German state of Bavaria is packed with at least 700 such tunnel systems but perhaps none are so mysterious as the Erdstall, which was discovered when a grazing dairy cow suddenly fell into the earth, revealing an opening. The tunnels are uncomfortably cramped, leading to local legends that they were constructed by elves. Archaeologists have ruled out their use as storage space or livestock housing and have found very few artifacts inside, deepening the mystery. It’s believed that only about 10% of the total tunnel system has been explored.

Burlington Bunker, England

A secret rail line leads from London’s royal palaces directly to a nuclear blast-proof bunker with sixty miles of roadways and its own underground lake, about 100 feet below the small town of Corsham. Built in the ’50s to house 4,000 central Government employees during a nuclear strike, the Burlington Bunker is truly a city unto itself with kitchens, laundry facilities, its own pub and a communications hub from which the Prime Minister would have addressed the nation in the event of an attack. Capable of withstanding bombs, radiation and poison gas, it was designed to keep its inhabitants safe and healthy for a three-month stretch. But nobody outside those with the right level of clearance even knew this facility existed until 2004, when it was decommissioned. The walls are covered in murals, the kitchen equipment still seemingly ready to churn out food for hundreds at any moment, the beds dressed in white sheets and red pillows. Read more and see hundreds of photos at BBC.

Shanghai Tunnels: Portland, Oregon

Unconscious men and women who had been drugged with opiates, knocked out or otherwise incapacitated were once carried through the dank tunnels leading from Portland, Oregon’s hotel and business basements out to the Willamette River at a rate of up to ten per day. The ‘Shanghai Tunnels‘ were initially built to keep ship equipment out of the rain and transport supplies to the city, but between 1850 and 1941, they were the shadowy setting for a booming slave trade. Portland became known as the “Forbidden City of the West” thanks to the ‘Shanghaiing’ trade, in which men were captured and sold to ship captains as slaves. But of course, women weren’t safe from the dangers, either: they were often kidnapped, sold and sent off to faraway cities to be held as sex slaves.

Most of these subterranean spaces have since been filled in as Portland has grown over the decades, and as far as anyone knows, there aren’t any that still lead to the waterfront. But the Cascade Geographic Society conducts tours of the parts that are still accessible, and is currently digging out new tunnels.

The Speakeasy Tunnels of Moose Jaw, Canada

On the surface, the town of Moose Jaw doesn’t seem much different from many other historic small towns in Saskatchewan, Canada. But just beneath the pavement is a labyrinth of tunnels constructed during the late 19th century that ultimately became known as ‘Al Capone’s Hangout.’ They were originally built so building staff could move from one building to the next to keep the furnaces going in the frigid winters, but Chinese migrants escaping persecution during the Yellow Peril eventually moved into them and started their own little subterranean society. Sleeping three to a bed, they worked long hard hours for little money and soothed themselves with opium. Then, once prohibition hit, the town became a hub for rum-running, gambling and prostitution. The Al Capone reference comes from a legend that the mobster had interests in the bootlegging operations, but no written or photographic proof exists that he ever visited.

Today, the tunnels are open for tours year-round, though the living inhabitants have long since been replaced with animatronics, and the barrels of contraband booze with empty containers.

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Abandoned Underground 10 Long Lost Subterranean Cities

Far below the bustling cities of London, Paris, Montreal, New York and Helsinki are subterranean spaces ranging from dark, dank and dangerous storm drain tunnels to entire complexes complete with shopping malls and swimming pools. Some are the result of cities deciding to build down rather than out, while others remain populated only by fringe communities as officials ponder transforming them for legal public use.

Underground Farm in London Air Raid Tunnels

Located 100 feet below the London Underground, in a deep subterranean level of World War II bomb shelters, is a sight you’d never expect to see: ‘Growing Underground,’ an experimental farm producing hydroponic crops over 2.5 acres of the abandoned passages. Elevated, rodent-proof tables placed beneath growing lights coax garlic chives, radishes, watercress, coriander, thai basil and other edibles. Growing in this underground space means 70% less water is required than above-ground farming, and there’s also no need for pesticides. The operation provides hyper-local micro greens to restaurants, wholesalers and retailers within the city, and the company plans to expand into tomatoes and mushrooms.

Stunning Makeover for Paris Underground

What could the abandoned subway stations beneath Paris potentially hold? One city mayoral candidate is working with architects to examine new purposes for these vast, neglected spaces, including restaurants, theaters, night clubs, parks and swimming pools. They’re large, strong, open spaces with great acoustics, already located near major urban hubs, ready to be reclaimed by the public. Eight stops in total have been deemed suitable for the project, some of which have been boarded up for nearly a century.

Helsinki Underground ‘Shadow City’

Finland’s capital city has decided to fight sprawl by building down rather than out, building an underground city containing a swimming pool, shopping district, church, hockey rink, data center and ‘parking caverns.’ For Helsinki, this makes perfect sense (especially for the data center), as the city is built on rock that’s naturally insulating. Building down avoids the need for ugly parking decks, and also provides storage for things like coal. Officials plan to continue expanding these spaces including another 200 underground structures, new metro lines and a road tunnel project that will connect existing access roads leading into the city.

RÉSO Underground Complex, Montreal

Montreal’s Underground City, officially known as RÉSO, is a series of interconnected spaces in and beneath the downtown area. It’s one of the largest underground complexes in the world with over 20 miles of tunnels spread over a 4.6 square mile area, containing shopping malls, hotels, condos, banks, offices, apartments, museums, universities, seven metro stations, two commuter train stations, a regional bus terminal, an amphitheater and an arena. More than 120 access points connect above-ground Montreal to this underground city. The first link began in 1962 with the construction of the Place Ville-Marie office tower and underground shopping mall, built to cover railway tracks that were considered an eyesore. The fact that the complex links so many transit stations enables Canadians and visitors to avoid nasty weather when traveling from one area of the city to the next.

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7 Urban Underground Wonders Active Subterranean Spaces

Regular readers will remember the incredible abandoned mines and sunken cities as well as the catacombs and crypts of two previous collections of underground wonders. This set, however, focuses mainly on amazing underground wonders of the recent past – many of which are still in operation. From seed vaults to military strongholds, government hideouts to diamond mines and nuclear waste dumps, here are seven more underground wonders of the world. Know of others that haven’t made the list yet? Be sure to leave more information in a comment below!

Underground Seed Storage Vault: Located on a remote island only a few hundred miles from the North Poll, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was constructed as insurance against the loss of genetically diverse crops around the globe While other such collections exist this is by far the most comprehensive and secure such endeavor to date and is located in a more safe region of the world than many similar efforts. The vault currently contains around 1.5 million seed samples and has a capacity of three times that amount. With the surrounding permafrost, the seismic stability of the region and a state-of-the-art security system this is one of the safest storage places ever constructed – and it looks awesome.

Primary School in a Cave: One thing that stands out right away about this strange Chinese school-in-a-cave is the lack of a roof on the main school structure – but really, why would you need one with the natural rock shelter provided? This naturally occurring cave provides a conveniently sizable space that accommodates not only the primary school proper but also playground spaces and other support structures. One can only imagine the permitting processes, objections and other complications that of a proposal for something similar in, say, the United States.

Mormon Genealogical Vaults: The Mormons have some of the most sophisticated and thorough genealogical records in the world – 500 million pages of statistics dating back hundreds of years. So where does one horde such a rare treasure for safe-keeping? There is a nuke-proof underground bunker where the backups are kept carved into a granite cliffside outside of Salt Lake City. While the data is available to the public these original archival copies are kept completely secure. The folks of the Long Now project managed to get access but could only photograph the exterior. Inside, says their intrepid representative, long rows of microfilm storage resemble the endless stacks from The Matrix and a central water-catch zone (from the rock above) is reminiscent of Fremen water catches from Dune.

Secret WWI Military Tunnels: Imagine a military tunnel system so elaborate and extensive it housed not only 25,000 soldiers but also contained a church, dining halls, a 700-bed hospital and even a power station mere feet below the enemy. Recently excavated below the French town of Arras is an amazing work of wartime ingenuity – the largest underground project in British military history. By the time the British retook the town in 1916 it was virtually in ruins and still besieged by the Germans. 500 New Zealand sappers worked tirelessly to interconnect a series of existing but isolated underground mines into a 12-mile network of passages and spaces. Amazingly, after the war these spaces were put out of site and out of mind until they became a forgotten piece of history. Only recently did curiosity and clues lead to the rediscovery of this astonishing network and the opening of one small part to the public.

World’s Largest Diamond Mine: The Mirny Diamond Mine in Siberia may be one of the scariest mines in the world (in addition to being the world’s largest open diamond mine). It is over a thousand feet deep and thousands of feet wide. It is so large it actually creates its own local weather patterns and the space above it has had to be designated a no-fly zone for helicopters (after this problem was identified the hard way). Gigantic trucks (like the small dot pointed to above) can haul over 200 tons of material out of the mine at a time, winding up and down the frightening spiral path that leads to the center of the mine.

Stockholm Art Metro Station: This amazingly decorated subway station takes the idea of public art to an pervasive maximum with over 100 artists displaying all kinds of work in an enclosed public space. And really, who could use a daily dose or art more than the bustling workers cramming onto public transportation day in and day out? This space has been dubbed the “world’s longest art gallery” with a vast range of strange spaces, designs and artworks including wall sculptures, murals and lighting effects that are as varied as the designers and artists who created them.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Carlsbad, New Mexico, has probably the last underground wonder in the world you would want to visit. This facility is the first of its kind: a licensed permanent storage space for radioactive waste. The site has been stable for hundreds of millions of years and the surrounding soil is calculated to fill cracks that could occur in the subterranean storage structures over time. Markers have been placed around the site to deter future human interference and potential accidental catastrophe. The bottom diagram above shows the contentious Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility.

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