Bunkers of Albania

Over 100,000 concrete bunkers ("bunkerët") were set up in Albania during the reign of communist dictator Enver Hoxha. Today, bunkers remain a ubiquitous part of Albanian scenery — some have been converted into museums or restaurants, while the majority lie abandoned. How many can you find? ••• And for those who are wondering how I created this map: I found some of the bunkers while exploring Albania’s street view coverage, but I uncovered many others through extensive online location research. For example, photo galleries like this one were very helpful: https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/13132/bunker-for-every-citizen-albania-communist-relics ••• Plus, the research brought about interesting synergistic effects. Often, I would see a given bunker in a photo taken in city X, then proceed to look around city X, and end up finding a completely different bunker — and sometimes, more than one! •••