In the southeastern corner of Europe, the small country of Albania
is covered by more than 700,000 bunkers—that’s 1 bunker for every 4 Albanians. The bunkers
were built at enormous cost between 1967 and 1985 as part of the paranoid national defense strategy of the country’s longtime communist dictator,
Enver Hoxha.
Though the bunkers saturate the country from its beaches to its city
streets, they were of little military value and were never used during
Hoxha’s 40 year rule. Due to the cost and difficulty of removing the
bunkers they still remain. They now serve as tourist attractions, homes,
make-out spots, but mostly, they’re eyesores.
The photos seen here are by Dutch photographer
David Galjaard, who began documenting the bunkers back in 2008. He has assembled his photographs in
Concresco, a 2012 photo book.
