gjirokastra albania snaking beneath a fortress in southern albania a covert tunnel network built during the communist era captures the secrecy and paranoia that defined the long rule of tyrant enver hoxhatoday communism is gone and the military bunker is a tourist attraction still drawing rare visitors during the pandemic when themes of fear isolation and confinement are particularly resonantthe sprawling underground complex now dubbed the cold war tunnel is part of a vast and costly bunkerisation project spearheaded by hoxha who feared foreign invasion during his 40year isolationist rulein order to fortify the hermit state he oversaw the construction of more than 170000 military bunkers across albaniamost are small domeshaped structures built as sentry posts for soldiers that still dot the landscape todaythe underground matrix burrowed beneath the citadel of hoxhas hometown of gjirokastra in the countrys south is among the most impressive today its a unesco world heritage siteconstruction crews worked shifts in secrecy to ensure no one had a view of the full plan for the 1500metre tunnel network built to house the military command in case of a foreign assaultit was rediscovered after the fall of communism in the 1990s and has since become a tourist drawwhile covid19 has dealt a heavy blow to albanias tourist season some 300 maskclad visitors still explored the underground lair this summer including alexandre benlalam a 39yearold parisian computer engineertoday we are visiting this bunker to reflect and think about the sad time we are living with the pandemic we are deprived of certain liberties freedom to touch each other to speak to each other to meet he told afptodays limitations are in the right direction however he added contrary to the deprivations under hoxhas ironfisted dictatorshipwhile the tunnel walls are now crumbling and old furniture left behind is covered in dust the complex was initially highly sophisticatedthe corridors connect nuclear bomb shelters and scores of offices for the military command secret police public prosecutors and a court explained astrit imeri a 67yearold former military officer as he revisited the underground hideoutadditional spaces were carved out for wiretapping operations dormitories for sleeping a bakery water tanks and a stash of kalashnikovs and tt pistols to be used against potential enemy intrusionthe tunnel had all the resources to stay there not just for a few hours but for days and weeks imeri saidhe was among those who took part in elaborate military exercises held inside the tunnels to prepare for a warlocals were also called to participate including engjell serjani 60 a radio journalist who remembers having to cover a fabricated conflict in the mid1980s as part of the drillswe actually had to come up with information about the attacks the deaths the damage on the front and prepare special programmes he told afpafter the fall of communism in 1990 albanias bunkers were mostly abandoned while some larger sites fell victim to lootersin recent years some of the shelters have been converted into funky cafes warehouses or housing for the homelessthe