The sea of Baltic trees and pine seas of the Baltic Sea sways in the wind as the roads go deep into the forest. In the peaceful depths of Western Lithuania National Park here in Lithuania, a idyllic lake, wetlands, old villages and forest area 30 miles inland from the Baltic Sea, Soviet missile operators were eagerly waiting for the destruction of Western Europe.
Today, the once-classified complex known as the Plokštinė missile base is the Cold War Museum, the park’s most visited attraction. In 2024, 35,000 people from all over the world came to explore this eerie underground world, including underground rooms, passageways and missile silos.
Some lines of barbed wire greet anyone arriving at the facility. Afterwards, four white domes appear, a bunker that once housed weapons of mass destruction, in contrast to the greenery of the forest. The structure stands there like a parasitic mushroom that does not belong to its surroundings.
The history of the base reflects the logic of the Cold War and the nuclear weapons race. Western Lithuania – At the time, some of the Soviet Union’s Soviet Socialist Republics were the best places to store warheads targeting NATO countries.
Lithuania, which faced Scandinavia in the Baltic Sea, was transformed into a highly militarized zone with rocket bases, military towns and risons. Nearby Latvia and Estonia (part of the Soviet Union) suffered the same fate.
Located anywhere, Plokshin Forest provided the ideal conditions for building a secret underground complex. The nearby 4.6 square miles of Plateria Lake provided water for the cooling system, with small populations in the surrounding villages and soft, sandy soils making it easy to excavate.
Inside the Cold War Bunker in Lithuania
The Plokštinė missile base was completed in 1962 after two years of construction involving more than 10,000 workers across the Soviet Union. Such immeasurable work was not noticed by the locals.
“People didn’t know what kind of weapons were stored there, but we knew about this place,” says Aušra Brazdeikytė, a guide to the Cold War Museum.
Brazil was born in a village not too far from the base and spent his life in the area.
Soldiers became equipment for local living, and hearing about heavy equipment transporting military equipment was a regular event.
“We worked with various Soviet Republic soldiers on collective farms, but we never discussed military topics,” she recalls. Asking the wrong questions could end tragically in the Soviet Union.
The complex was largely fixed, with two miles of electric fences stretching around the base. The dense forests became even more difficult to reach, so locals refused to access it.
All this secret has been rewarded. The US Intelligence Agency discovered the base through satellite reconnaissance in 1978. By then, the Soviets had abolished the facility as part of the rocket disarmament agreement between the Soviet Union and the US.
The entrance to the facility, as usual, passes through a hole in the ground.
“Please, wipe your feet,” reads the Russian sign in Russian on the sealed door. Cleanliness is important in the workplace, especially if you work in a secret underground facility with a nuclear warhead.
The Plokštinė missile base was an elaborate military project, an exemplary facility of this kind of the Soviet Union. There were also four 100-foot shafts that housed R-12 DVINA surface-to-surface missiles, centered around an underground command center with a corridor network. There were also underground power plants to generate energy in emergencies.
After Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and subsequently declared the collapse of the iron curtain, the base was abandoned completely and plundered for metal. Thanks to EU funding, local officials were able to establish an incredible museum that opened in 2012, offering public access to a command center, an electric factory and one silo.
Walking through the dimly lit underground maze gives you a creepy feeling. Especially because it is filled with Soviet tools. Lenin and Stalin statues, military awards, hammer and chicque ceramic and flags. Visitors pass through interactive halls of themes dedicated to different stages of the Cold War and learn about propaganda produced in the second half of the 20th century. All over the place, realistic silicone mannequins of grumpy soldiers send you into the eerie Soviet-style valleys.
The most striking attraction is the abandoned ruins of military technology. The skeletons from the old electric factory are the ideal backdrop for computer games. There is a huge hall where tanks with missile fuel are stored.
However, the highlight is the silo. You will feel a small dizzy at the edge of the 100-foot hole and standing at the edge of the deep by. The missiles left this shaft unattended and did not seed destruction, but they had casualties over the years.
“When his (safe) belt broke during routine service checks, the soldier fell into his death,” says Brazdeikytė, whose words echoing gloomy in the darkness.
“Two other soldiers died during a nitrate spill while trying to refuel the missile,” she adds. The darkness gets thicker.
Apart from the four silos are ghost towns that were never named. Originally it housed around 300 soldiers and officers who worked at missile bases.
Oddly, after the abolition of Plokštinėbase, several management buildings in the town were converted into children’s summer camps. It was called žuvėdra, meaning Segal, and ran from 1979 to 1990. The bus stop just behind the entrance gate features a colorful mural showing the gnome of a mushroom carrying flowers.
There is not much left in the military town today. The most compelling sight is a series of previous storage hangars. Covered with mud and grass, it looks like an ancient pyramid lost in the forest.
Heaven and Hell
The juxtaposition of a gloomy abandoned nuclear missile base and the beautiful regions surrounding it could be an all-talk of modern Lithuania.
The country has overcome Soviet decades and transformed the scars of the Cold War into a moment of teaching.
Away from the base, Zematilla National Park is one of the most luxurious places in Lithuania and is filled with attractions. A visit to the park will take you to the heart of Samogitia, a region with a rich local culture. Pagan and Christian traditions coexist here. The land is considered to be the last part of Europe that converted to Christianity in the 15th century.
Samogitia pancakes, o Samogitan pancakes are a local food superstar. These are heartwarming potato pancakes with meat inside. Zeppelins, Potato dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese and ground meat are another comfortable Lithuanian food. And no one leaves without sampling Cold Bouchecold pink beetroot soup.
The town of Plateria, 15 minutes north of the nuclear location, is home to the church of the apostles Peter and Paul, a wooden building that poses awe-inspiring. The town’s restored mansion features the Mardi Gras Museum, with its distinctive wooden mask.
Lake Plateria itself is for nature lovers, with cycling and hiking trails, waterside campsite spots and a scenic restaurant next to the coast.
Once upon a time, Jemaitilla’s greatest secret was the Prockstein nuclear missile base. Today, the region itself is a hidden gem of slow travel in Europe.
