This stop was a chilling look into Lithuania’s Cold War Past. Deep in the forests of Samogitia National Park, we descended into the Lithuania Cold War Museum, housed inside a former Soviet nuclear missile base.
Between 1963 and 1978, this fortress housed four SS-4 medium-range missiles, each armed with 2-megaton thermonuclear warheads, representing a significant portion of the nuclear arsenal aimed at Europe.
Today, we could explore the preserved silos, tunnels, and control rooms, helping us to remember the Cold War tensions (like hiding under our desks in school!)
We wandered corridors once lined with missile fuel conduits and explored control rooms where one push of a button could have changed history forever.
Exhibits filled with propaganda posters, gas masks, and chilling countdown timers offered a look at life behind the Iron Curtain.
The museum was stark and sobering. The long, narrow corridors of reinforced concrete led through command rooms, living quarters, and massive missile silos.
This was really a tangible reminder of how close the world once came to destruction. The museum doesn’t sensationalize—it educates and leaves questions about power and resilience.
Our guide, Aiste, made this statement to us privately while talking about the underground bunker her brother is building at home… ” Being a neighbor of Russia, you never feel safe!”
This is a place that makes me so grateful for peace—yet aware of how fragile it can be.