Cold war mermories

In the heart of Žemaitija National Park in Lithuania The Cold War Museum, located within the confines of the former Soviet Union’s missile silo launch complex, reveals the chilling realities of an era darkened by the imminent threat of nuclear war. From 1963 to 1978, four SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles, armed with 2-megaton thermonuclear warheads, were deployed. These missiles, together with nearby analogue land-based missile launch platforms, created a common Soviet nuclear weapons group in Lithuania, capable of destroying all of Europe. It recalls a period of history that seemed to be behind us and which we only needed to remember. Dramatically, many themes and fears from that not-so-distant era in history come back to life. Documents and relics that remind us and re-enact a threat that seems to be looming over humanity. The site immersed in a naturalistic area, after having lived an alienating and in some ways distressing experience, leads us to reflect on how delicate and labile the border between beauty and total destruction is.