The luxurious Jalta Hotel is located in the upper part of Wenceslas Square. It may be a surprise to you that there used to be a crisis staff shelter that is now home to the Cold War Museum. If you haven't had the honour yet, go see it during this year's Open House Prague festival!
It was intended for high-ranking officers of the Czechoslovak People's Army and the Warsaw Pact in the event of a sudden attack on Prague and was designed for 20-150 people. Now it serves as a museum, complemented by period artefacts that will immediately make you feel like a time traveller.
You can have a look at an emergency surgery room or a mobile dental office, which can be folded into just two boxes. There is also a secret escape exit, which is 15 metres long and leads to Wenceslas Square. There is also a demonstration of the commanders' workplace or the ammunition storage with weapons from post-war Czechoslovakia. You can also admire equipment from the 1950s until the mid-1990s.
You can experience a special feeling in the interrogation room of the SNB (National Security Corps), which is a replica of those where the arrested people were taken by the officers. The last room is the wiretapping room for spying on the hotel guests.
The luxurious Jalta Hotel on Wenceslas Square was inaugurated in 1958 and has been on the UNESCO list since 1991. These days it is a five-star boutique hotel, but it was one of the best hotels in Prague even when it first opened, mainly due to its modern form provided by architect Antonín Tenzer. The hotel is built in the style of the so-called Stalin Baroque.
You will be able to see the shelter in small groups, which will meet in front of the Forum building, whose luxuriously restored entrance is also a part of the Open House Prague tours.