The abandoned tunnels of Berlin, the most unknown part of the German capital

Berlin is a very old city. It was founded in 1244, and its subsoil hides things unknown to many.

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Two examples of this lesser-known part of the German capital are the Eisackstrasse Tunnel, abandoned as part of a planned subway line in 1910, and the abandoned U10 subway station, an unfinished subway line that was part of the plan drawn up by the Berlin Senate in the 1950s to build a 200-kilometer underground railway network.

Additionally, During the Cold War, there were 16 ghost subway stations in Berlin, located beneath Soviet-controlled East Berlin, through which West Berlin subway trains (controlled by the US, France, and the UK) passed without stopping. These stations were closed from 1961 to 1989 and 1990, and were seen daily by passengers using those subway lines.

Berlin's underground hides other little-known sites, such as the Pankstrase bunker, built during the Cold War next to the subway station of the same name. It was opened in 1977 as a civilian shelter in the event of a nuclear attack and had the capacity to house 3,339 people for several weeks. Disused since the end of the Cold War, it was declared a monument in 2010.

A month ago, the channel Große Bauten published a video showing these underground structures in Berlin (the video is in German, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

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Main photo: Berliner Unterwelten e.V.. The ghost station at Innsbrucker Platz in 1996.