Command Bunker Kemmel (Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History)

Location:
Command Bunker Kemmel
Lettingstraat, 64
8950 Heuvelland
Belgium

Contact for general information:
Royal Museum of the Armed Forces
and of Military History
Parc du Cinquantenaire 3
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Tel.  +32 (0)2 737 78 12
kemmel[at]klm-mra.be

www.klm-mra.be/D7t/en/content/command-bunker-kemmel

Contact for visits:
Toerisme Heuvelland
Polenlaan 1 
8950 Heuvelland (Kemmel)
Belgium

Tel.  +32 (0)57 45 04 55
toerisme[at]heuvelland.be

Opening Hours:
15 February to 15 November
Tuesday and Saturday
Thursdays (only schools upon reservation)
10 am - 5 pm

16 November to 14 February
Saturdays
Thursdays (only schools upon reservation)
10 am - 5 pm

www.heuvelland.be/tourism/799

Description: 

The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History is a category two federal scientific institution (ISF/FWI), as well as a state service with separate management (SEGS/SAB). It furthers knowledge about military and conflict history, in times of war and times of peace, through the unique and rich military heritage it manages on its different sites. That heritage is movable, immovable and immaterial. In view of long-term conservation the collections are managed, preserved, analysed, interpreted and extended in a professional and scientific manner. The time frame stretches from the Middle Ages till the present; the geographical framework covers both the historic territories preceding the creation of our kingdom and present-day Belgium, in a European and international perspective. The Museum manages and runs four external sites of which one is a bunker of the Cold War: Command Bunker Kemmel.

Cold War Interests: 

The Command Bunker Kemmel is an external site of the museum. The Kemmelberg bunker was built in the early fifties as a command centre for the air defence of five countries (Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxemburg and the Netherlands). Due to the creation of an integrated air defence system by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the building would never be used for its intended purpose. In the sixties the bunker was transformed into the headquarters of the Belgian Armed Forces in case of conflict. After the Cold War the bunker lost its military value. This "top-secret" site, total surface area of 2.500 m², in its original state and perfectly preserved, testifies to half a century of tension between the East and the West. Through pictures, movies, objects, uniforms and equipment the present-day visitor can relive the Cold War.