Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum – The real face of life-saving

The Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum is beneath the Buda Castle. Under the Castle Hill there is a 10 km long cave and cellarsystem. Before the outbreak of World War II a major part of the cave system was reinforced in order to have a shelter in case of bombings.

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The Hospital in the Rock opened its gates during WWII, February 1944. Its primary role was to provide general emergency care that was available for civilians and soldiers who got injured through an air raid. The hospital was assigned under the supervision of John’s Hospital and Dr. István Kovács, assistant professor and head surgeon became the director of the Hospital.

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He was working with approximately 40 doctors in turns. Many volunteer nurses of the Red Cross assisted in medical care, thus, noble family members worked here, like Css Istvánné Horthy,  Ilona Andrássy and Ilona Széchenyi. Originally, the Hospital was planned to serve 120 people, but according to the recollection of eyewitnesses, 650-700 people were treated here during the siege of Budapest. The Hospital was operating until June 1945, then it was opened again, one day after the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in order to treat civilians and soldiers as well.

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Between 1958-62, the Hospital was expanded and transformed into a nuclear bunker so that it could have functioned in case of a nuclear attack.

Those doctors and nurses, who were assigned to rush here in case of a nuclear of chemical attack, were practicing the civil defense exercise until the 1980’s. The the ’secret’ classification was cleared in 2002 and the Museum opened its gates for civil visitors in 2008. The annual number of visitors of the Museum reached 100,000 in 2015.

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Sziklakórház Atombunker Múzeum
1012 Budapest, Lovas út 4/c