Historical site in Ahrweiler Museum offers guided tours of former government bunker
Ahrweiler · The museum in the former government bunker is a popular destination and tours can be arranged in several different languages, including English. Since this year, tours that go deeper into the tunnel system are offered for the first time. All information about the guided tours can be found here.
The former government bunker under the vineyards in the Ahr Valley was one of the most expensive and most secret German structures. Around 3,000 government officials were supposed to find protection in the 17-kilometer-long facility in the event of a Third World War. Since 2008, the bunker has had a new purpose: as a documentation site. There are 203 meters of the facility open to visitors, preserved exactly as it was decades ago.
When is the bunker open?
All visitors have the opportunity to take part in a guided tour of the bunker on Saturdays and Sundays at 12 noon until the end of March (in German), with prior registration. From Friday, April 7, the documentation site opens at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Last admission is at 4:30 p.m.
Group tours can be booked throughout the year. Registrations are accepted by phone at 02641 / 917165 and by mail to regierungsbunker@alt-ahrweiler.de.
Will special guided tours be offered?
To mark the 100th birthday of GDR intelligence chief Markus Wolf, there will be exclusive guided tours three times a day on Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16. On each tour, 30 visitors can learn more about foreign espionage in the GDR and Bonn during the Cold War.
Every first Sunday of the month, families are invited to a discovery tour across the bunker. The focus is on young visitors, who can get answers to all their questions and marvel at and touch numerous original objects. This year, the special tours "Classified - Secret - Top Secret", "Team Event: Top Secret" and flashlight tours, where visitors explore the tunnels with flashlights, will also be offered.
Do you have to sign up for a tour in advance?
Registration is required for individual, group and special tours. From Friday, April 7, it is possible to visit the bunker on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays without prior registration.
What can visitors see?
After the dismantling, which took place between 2001 and 2006, 203 meters of the bunker are still preserved as a documentation site. The splinter protection building is at the center. The adjacent new buildings now house the foyer and the lecture room. Visitors can also see large parts of the facility, such as the presidential office, the communications center and living and sleeping quarters. Parts of the tunnel system can also be visited.
What is new this year?
This year, tours that go deeper into the tunnel system will be offered for the first time. The museum hopes to be able to extend the tunnel tours to five kilometers in length. That would be unique in Germany.
What do visitors need to be aware of?
Temperatures in the former government bunker are twelve degrees Celsius (53.6 F). Warm clothing is recommended for visitors. For 2.50 euros per person, visitors receive permission to take photos for private purposes. Video recordings and photography with a tripod are generally not permitted.
What does a guided tour cost?
Adults pay an entrance fee of 15 euros (reduced rate: twelve euros), schoolchildren, university students and people doing voluntary work pay ten euros, children between the ages of 13 and 16 pay eight euros and children aged eight and over pay six euros. For groups of 15 or more, each group member pays 13 euros. Guided tours for groups of less than 15 people cost a flat rate of 195 euros. The maximum group size is 25 people; larger groups will be split up. Guided tours are offered in English, French, Dutch and Spanish and cost an extra 35 euros.
Orig. text: Jasmin Kaub
Translation: ck
