Finland may soon join NATO alongside its western neighbor Sweden. The move is expected to draw the ire of Russia, and though Finnish authorities aren’t expecting imminent threats, they want to be prepared for the worst.
Finland, which shares 800 miles of its eastern border with Russia, is not keen to be the next Ukraine. Luckily, the Scandinavian nation already has a system of 5,000 bomb shelters beneath Helsinki that could shelter the city’s entire population, along with an additional 50,000 bunkers across the country.

The bunkers were mandated by Finland’s Rescue Act, which requires any currently used buildings with a floor area of at least 12,900 square feet to include bunkers. Helsinki began excavating its tunnels in the 1960s for utilities like electricity and plumbing and soon realized they could continue digging for larger spaces to shelter the population in an emergency.
At least 85 percent of these shelters are operated privately and used to serve other functions during peacetime. That means many underground spaces are currently inhabited by churches, skate parks, shopping centers, theaters, parking garages, swimming pools, and even a hockey rink.
Helsinki’s 200-mile network of nuclear bunkers is mostly connected, so the city’s residents can simply go underground and comfortably walk, shop, socialize, and play sports no matter what the weather looks like above the surface. These subterranean spaces can be quite beautiful, especially ...