Blast doors from East Kilbride’s secret Cold War nuclear bunker go on display at the National Museum of Scotland

Opening next week Cold War Scotland (13 Jul 2024 – 26 Jan 2025) will explore the lives of ordinary Scots on the frontline of this global confrontation. 

Scotland’s combination of geography and topography provided a useful base for Allied military preparations and research during the Cold War, a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War. 

The pair of huge doors come from an Anti-Aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) in East Kilbride, part of a network of underground bunkers built to defend vulnerable targets against air attack in the early 1950s. AAORs would have provided Scotland’s first line of defence in  the event of a nuclear attack.

As military strategy changed, these spaces were used for civil defence. East Kilbride’s bunker became the Scottish Civil Defence Western Zone Control base in the 1960s and later the Western Zone Regional Government Headquarters. In the event of nuclear war, the Glasgow Group Control would have had jurisdiction over Strathclyde region from the bunker in East Kilbride.

Cold War Scotland will explore both the visible and invisible legacies of the Cold War. First hand testimonies will reveal the ways in which the war lingers in Scottish politics, culture and memory, and remarkable objects illustrate the unseen impact of radiation on Scotland’s landscape.

The exhibition will also highlight the physical remains of the Cold War; the ruined bases, forgotten bunkers and decommissioned nuclear power stations still evident across the country. You can find out more by reading our article about the nuclear bunkers, monitoring stations and war rooms in and around Glasgow.

Dr Meredith Greiling, Principal Curator of Technology at National Museums Scotland, said: “From nuclear submarines to lively peace protests and observation stations perpetually monitoring for devastating attack, the Cold War permeated every aspect of life in Scotland for decades. We are delighted to be able to display these blast doors for the first time and reveal this little-known aspect of East Kilbride’s past. We hope visitors to the exhibition are inspired to learn more about this fascinating period in Scottish history.”   

Cold War Scotland  13 July 2024 to 26 January 2025  National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh  Admission: Free