Bat Bunker

Bunkers for bats! These ruins of Polish-built bunkers from the 1920s, dug into the hills in Antakalnis a couple kilometres northeast of Vilnius centre are now home to thousands of rare bats, and are protected as part of the EU nature-corridor plan Natura 2000. The Vilnius government has adapted them with specially-designed bat-shelters, and they are listed as cultural heritage sites and so protected from developers. The bunkers were built after Poland annexed Lithuania in 1920, and were completed in 1927-1928 – a reminder that between the two world wars, not all corners of Europe were peaceful. The hills into which they are dug are now part of the Pavilniai regional park – an extensive patch of green to the east of Vilnius city.