Underground Hospital to open thanks to Festung Guernsey

The network of tunnels used by the German forces as a hospital and munitions store during the Occupation has been open to the public since the 1950s.

Ordinarily the tourist attraction and museum is open from March until October, however it has had to be closed by the owners so far this year for family reasons.

Festung Guernsey’s Paul Bourgaize and his team have been preparing the site for its reopening on Saturday 16 June.

‘There will be a group of four or five of us, we will be looking for people to help man the desk. It’ll be open from 10am-4pm six days a week, closing on Tuesdays,’ he said.

‘It’s just about getting it back open, we’re going to do our best to get people back in. We always have at least 10 projects on the go at any one time but this is the largest structure in the Channel Islands.

‘They [the owners] were keen to see it reopen, especially with the publicity that the [Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society] film has brought to the island,’ he said.

Rooms kept in their original condition within the 7,000sq. m. tunnel network include the mortuary and cinema. There are also hospital beds and apparatus.

Built by slave labour, beginning in the winter of 1940, it is described by VisitGuernsey as ‘truly an eerie insight into life on the island at the time’.

It was built underground so as not to be seen by aircraft given the site was also used as an ammunition store.

n The season begins on 16 June from 10am and there will be a small entrance fee payable.