PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE
BUNKER SECRET SITE



The BUNKER secret site is located a few meters below the top of the Hirtshals Klint, geologically speaking in the transition zone between sand and recent Yoldia clay. The nearest obvious geographical reference is the Hirtshals Lighthouse, some 200 m eastnortheast of the site. The BUNKER as such is part of a large group of reinforced concrete structures, built for military purposes by the German occupation forces during WW II. These installations - as far as extant - comprise five large artillery bunkers facing seawards, four of which belong to the same standard construction type as the BUNKER secret bunker, thus forming a line, roughly speaking, parallel to the coastline. The BUNKER secret bunker is the second in the row of these, approaching from the Lighthouse, i.e. heading southwestwards. While operating during WW II, the bunkers were all, as a rule, entered from the Hinterland, not (for obvious reasons) from the side facing seawards (cf. fig. 42). Today, most such entrances are covered by large amounts of shifting sand, overgrown by marram grass, and this holds for the BUNKER secret bunker too. The total dimension and weight of the concrete construction is a secret kept in sand.

Actually, the BUNKER secret bunker is entered by the wide opening towards the sea (cf. fig. 42), originally adapted to the heavy turntable gun which was formerly the functional centre of the installation. This entrance has a width - spanning the convex outline of the plan - of 3.20 m and a maximum height of 2.08 m. Caution should be taken while entering, however, since on one hand the ceiling takes, as it were, 3 rather large steps downwards (forming a kind of "inverted" or "upside down" stairway), while at the same time one large "step" (height 0.96 m) takes the user down to the ground floor of the first and largest compartment of the site, the orchestra. Having passed this hurdle, though, conditions are immediately normalized and becoming quite homelike, not to say stately: the elevation of the ceiling is, at first, 2.02 m, soon expanding to 2.32 m, while the orchestra assumes a maximum width of no less than 4.80 m, narrowing to 2.40 as one penetrates deeper into the structure.

At the back of the orchestra, a narrow (1.04 m) stairway is leading upwards, while to the left and to the right two doorways (each measuring 2.00 x 0.80 m) lead to smaller compartments. The one to the left (known as the Neanderthal room) is very small indeed (1.68 x 1.20 m ground plan), while the other (called the Cro Magnon room) consists in fact of two connected chambers, one the size of the Neanderthal room, the other (further onwards) a trifle larger (1.76 x 1.40 m). These compartments were originally used for ammunition storage.

The distance from orchestra entrance to central stairway is 5.40 m, measured at ground floor level. The central stairs consist, at first, of four steps (the intermediary steps each the depth of 0.21 m), leading to a gallery slightly wider and 2.56 m long. Attached to the right wall of the gallery is a stainless steel plate with an inscription.*

 Fig. 42
Fig. 43



Fig. 44
Cro Magnon room during and after excavation. Notice the wall paintings made by earlier cave tres-passers.		   The ceiling elevation in the gallery is, at first, 1.82 m, then (following yet another upside down step upwards) 2.18 m. From the gallery, the central stairway, narrowing once again to the width of 1.04 m, leads further upwards (cf. fig. 28.2), measuring another eight steps (each 0.21 m) towards a landing the depth of 0.72 m. To the left of this landing, an even narrower doorway (0.60 m) leads to a small gallery (length 2.00 m), followed by a similarly narrow stair of 13 steps (each the depth of 0.26 m, except for a minor landing at the 6th step (slightly affecting the 7th step as well), where the stair turns 90û to the left, while at the same time narrowing to a width of 0.58 m). This stair takes the user to a very small, singularly shaped compartment, known as the observatory. The observatory has the ground plane of an octagon, each side measuring 0.56 m, while the ceiling elevation is no more than 1.44 m, leaving scarcely the possibility of standing upright. During wartime, the observatory was used as a machine-gun nest. Fig. 46
Technical drawing of BUNKER, section B-B (front view), showing orchestra (Fig. 49), observatory (Fig. 47), central stairway, and BUNKER chamber (Fig. 48). Side view (A-A) and top view (C-C) can be found in the APPENDIX.

  
* THE BUNKER SECRET SITE
1945 - 1995 - 2045

På dette sted for enden af trappen er en hemmelighed forseglet d. 24 november 1995
Afsløring af hemmeligheden vil ske d. 24 november 2045
November 24 1995 on this site a secret was sealed at the end of the staircase. November 24 2045 the secret will be unveiled
Projektet er udført af:
The project is made by:
Jan Ekenberg
Mads Gamdrup
Nils V. Hausken
Mikkel R. Møller
Mogens Møller
Kasper N. Olsen
Nynne L. Poulsen
Rikard Silwärn
Pernille P. Worsøe

Adgang gennem gitterdøren kan ske ved henvendelse på Rådhuset
Access through the steel gate by appointment with the Townhall
Fig. 45
Entrance to right side compartment to orchestra (Cro Magnon room).

Fig. 50
Discussing scale model of gate.

 Fig. 52
Life size model of gate bars.

 Fig. 53
Hardware realization of iron gate.		   From the central stairway landing just described, another eight steps lead further upwards to the BUNKER secret chamber. The access to this part of the stairway, however, is cut off by a 10 cm thick iron gate, including 3 solid steelbars, each measuring Ø = 100 x 20 mm. On the stairs immediately behind the iron gate, two large 400 W light projectors (cf. fig. 51) (each 435 x 480 x 166 mm, leaving just about 15 cm free passage in the middle of the stairway), constantly turned on, are directed towards the ceiling right above, from which intense light is reflected to illuminate the whole upper part of the central stairway. Fig. 51

This is what allows the user, even while peeping through the iron bars, to actually see the front surface of the BUNKER secret chamber at the top of the stairway. This surface (measuring 210 x 100 cm, including the 15 cm stainless steel frame, visibly supplied with 38 steel bolts) appears as a mirror (measuring 70 x 180 cm).

The reflective surface of the BUNKER secret chamber mirrors, in fact, the ceiling, the iron gate and the central, ascendant stairway. In particular, the mirroring surface represents the digital display of the BUNKER secret countdown clock, actually installed above the rear side of the iron gate, opposite to the mirroring surface. The digital countdown clock (cf. fig. 54) (contained in a black metal box, measuring 797 x 155 x 75 mm) displays 11 digits, i.e. 2 digits indicating countdown year, 3 digits indicating countdown day, 2 digits indicating countdown hour, 2 digits indicating countdown minute, and 2 digits indicating countdown second. Thus (the countdown time being 50 years), the clock is set, at initiation day, at:


whereas, 1 second after initiation, the digits


will indicate the span of time separating the present moment from debunk time. At:



   .

 Fig. 47
Observatory (used as machine gun nest during WW II).

Fig. 48

Fig. 49
Orchestra, with main stairway at centre.





Fig. 54
The debunk countdown clock at the BUNKER secret site. Photo taken 19 hrs, 10 mins, 26 secs after initiation.