Fortress Museum Crestawald

Fortress Crestawald lies in Canton Graubünden in Switzerland nearby the alpine transit route via San Bernardino. It is an artillery bunker with two 10.5 cm cannons and two stationary machine guns. Crestawald was built as a mountain bastion to protect Graubünden from attackers from the south.

The bunker was built between 1939 and 1941. It was finally closed down in 1995. In 2001 Crestawald was reopened as a museum.

All equipment remained in the fortress and the museum invests a lot of effort to keep the bunker in working order. Videos and signs (both only in German) inform the visitors about the purpose and the functionality of the different sections. Crestawald is therefore a very interesting and demonstrative example for military history. It is a manifestation in concrete of the fears in Switzerland about a possible invasion from Germany during World War II. The fortress also illustrates the Swiss strategy to ensure a very high level of military security without relying on alliances.

The untarnished condition and extensive information about its purpose and functionality make the Fortress Museum Crestawald a very interesting destination. You need about two or three hours for the visit. It is possible to move freely around the different rooms and even touch most of the shown equipment. So it may be a nice trip if you are traveling for example on the North-South transit via San Bernardino.
Remember to take a jacket or pullover with you as most of the bunker lies deep in the mountain. The room temperature is about 14 °C or 57 °F.

Personally this fortress reminds me of old James Bond movies. With its extensive camouflage Crestawald is something like a hidden base. The technology used in the bunker and the martial surrounding reinforce this maybe stupid impression.

The ten closest neighbours in the database:

Principality of Liechtenstein (56 km), Feldkirch (Austria) (68 km), St. Gallen (Switzerland) (93 km), Bregenz (Austria) (99 km), Lindau (Germany) (103 km), Zurich (Switzerland) (106 km), Mainau Island (Germany) (117 km), Wangen im Allgäu (Germany) (120 km), Lake-dwelling Museum of Unteruhldingen (123 km), Milan (Italy) (131 km)

Take a birds-eye view of the current location:

Google Maps, Map 24, MSN Virtual Earth, Yahoo!Maps

Corridor from the entrance into the deeper sections of the bunker
The guards at the entrance gate had their own sleeping accommodation
Loophole at the entrance
Radio equipment nearby the command room
Telecommunications equipment in the command room
The function of the command room is illustrated by a video
Telecommunications equipment in the command centre
Telecommunications equipment in the command centre
Fixed 7.5 mm machine gun
You have to climb some stairs if you wish to one see of the two machine gun posts
This device is used to load the belts of ammunition for the machine gun
Stairway to an upper level of the bunker. On the left you can see a lift for ammunition.
Lift control
Post office
Air lock
Ammunition for one of the 10.5 cm cannons
10.5 cm cannon
Spare muzzles for the 10.5 cm cannons Silvia and Lukrezia
Ammunition
Ammunition for the 10.5 cm cannons
Ammunition
World War II machine gun
Anti-tank weapons
Collection of modern Swiss guns
Upper ammunition depot
Ammunition depot
Fixed 7.5 mm machine gun. A map of the field of fire is installed above the gun. The current target is shown by a movable marker.
Gas lamps are available if the electrical light goes down
Tunnel to the observation post
Stair to the observation post
Stair between the top and middle level of the bunker
Stair from the middle to the lower level of the bunker. The lower level comprises the crew quarters, machine room and the entrance.
Gun stand outside the crew quarters
Short tunnel after the air lock to the crew quarters
Washing room
Shower
Medical equipment in the examination room
Medical equipment in the examination room
Sick room
Medical equipment in the examination room
Martial picture above the stairs to the men's quarters. The text reads "Wir halten das Banner" - "we uphold the banner".
Men's quarters with bunk beds
Men's quarters with bunk beds
Wardroom
Washing facility and telephone in a officers room
Room of the fortress commandant
Communication lines
Switching centre
The notebook in the switching centre shows the last record of June 24, 1993: 05:50 - Day Watch. Dull weather, fog, drizzle, 5°C 10:30 -  Local loop operational again
Switching centre
Martial picture above the stairs to the officers quarters
Machine room
Workbench in the workshop vis-à-vis to the machine room
 
Diesel generator
Diesel generator
Control board of the machine room
Entrance door
Can you find the flak gun and the hidden machine gun position?
Outside view of one of the 10.5 cm cannons
Outside view of one of the 10.5 cm cannons
This picture allows a better comparison of the actual size of the muzzle (The two guys are Sebastian in the back and me sitting on the concrete plating)
The camouflage is closed in front of one of the 10.5 cm cannons
These rocks are also fake
The camouflage is closed in front of one of the 10.5 cm cannons
Parking place in front of the entrance to the fortress
Flak gun
The sign reads "Festungsmuseum" - "fortress museum"
Traffic sign showing the way to the "Festungsmuseum Crestawald" (Fortress Museum Crestawald).
 
Creative Commons License Images displayed on this site are the property of, and are copyrighted by Stefan Plogmann. They are licensed under a Creative Commons License. An approval for commercial usage can be requested by sending an email to the author with a description of the intended usage.
All text of this picture gallery is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This website may contain hyperlinks to web pages of third parties. Stefan Plogmann accepts no liability or responsibility for the contents of such webpages and does not take over such webpages as its own. The use of such pages shall be at the sole risk of the user. Please also notice further legal information in the terms and conditions of this page.

You are also welcome to visit my private homepage http://www.plogmann.net. To stay informed about updates and new images in this gallery you can use this RSS-feed.