Diefenbunker Museum
About Canada'S Cold War Museum
The Diefenbunker is a massive four-story underground bunker, built between 1959 and 1961. The bunker served as an underground shelter for high-ranking officials in case of nuclear war during the Cold War. From 1994 to 1994, it was used as Canadian Forces Station Carp.
Today it is an award-winning museum and not-for-profit charity.
Learn more about Diefenbunker online with this collection of activities and other resources. Here are some links to explore:
Virtual Tours Museum Alphabet Bunker Jigsaw Problems
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Diefenbunker, Canada'S Cold War Museum
To ensure continuity in Canada's legal and constitutional government activities, the main conference room within Diefenbunker is used.
CFS Carp was decommissioned following the reduction of the ICBM. The site belonged to the Government of Canada Department of National Defence from 1959 until 1994.
After the local municipality took control of the facility in 1994, the community took a great interest in the bunker, requesting access to public tours of the facility.
In 1998, the municipality of Carp Diefenbunker took ownership. Local volunteers saw the potential for tourism and heritage value and decided to make the Carp Derenbunker a cold war museum. The Diefenbunker Development Group purchased the facility in 1998 and opened it as a museum. The name of the facility was changed to the Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War Museum shortly thereafter. The museum is now open all year for visitors.
Many of the areas of the bunker's operational conditions are being restored, including the PM's Suite. The Emergency Government Situation Centre. The CBC Emergency Broadcasting Studio. Military Federal Warning Centre. External Affairs Ministerial Office. Public Works Minister's Office. Bank of Canada Vault. The remaining 358 rooms of the bunker have been made into Cold War-era exhibits.
Museum Growth
Museum was entirely run by volunteers upon its opening in 1998. However, the 5,000 visitors received that year was too much to be handled solely by volunteers.
In 1999, which was also the second year of museum operation, a professor and some students were recruited. That year, 10,000 visitors visited the museum.
The museum continued to grow into the 2000s. The Diefenbunker was visited by close to 15,000 tourists in 2000. Additional part-time staff was hired throughout the year to keep up with museum maintenance and upkeep. In 2008, Diefenbunker received approximately 25.000 visitors annually. The museum is run by four full-time employees, nine part time staff members and many volunteers. In 2012, the museum had 45,280 visitors. This figure was the second highest increase since 1962, the year the Bunker opened.
The Diefenbunker hosted 88,000 people through its blast doors in 2017, Canada's sesquicentennial.
It is one of Ottawa's most popular tourist attractions.
The mandate of Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War museum is "to increase throughout Canada and the world, interest in and a critical understanding of the Cold War, by preserving the Diefenbunker as a national historic site, and operating a Cold War Museum.
Diefenbunker, Canada'S Cold War Museum
Daniel Panneton
Published Online on February 24, 2015.
Last edited March 7, 2021
Diefenbunker, an underground bunker built to withstand the blast of a bomb nuclear power is also known. It was built in Carp, Ontario , during a peak in Cold War tensions between 1959 and 1961, and named after then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker . The Cold War Museum Canada now has its headquarters there.
The "Diefenbunker" is an underground bunker designed to withstand the force of a nuclear blast. It was built at Carp, Ontario, in the heights of Cold War tensions (1959-61). The bunker's name is John Diefenbaker. The Cold War Museum of Canada is located here.
John Diefenbaker, prime minister of Canada from 1957-1963.