Like a scene from a James Bond movie, the huge Zeljava Air Base is carved into a mountain between Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia. It was designed to withstand a nuclear attack. It housed fleets of Soviet fighter jets. It was built in secret in the 1960s in what was then Yugoslavia, which was looking for a middle ground between Moscow and Washington during the Cold War. It was neglected for decades, and the devastated building occasionally attracts only tourists.
It was designed in the 1960s to withstand a nuclear attack. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was destroyed by explosives.
“You can’t believe that something like that has disappeared, simply everything that was inside, all that equipment, all that was burned, now there are only tunnels, walls, and ashes,” says Mirsad Fazlic, a former pilot at the base.
It was secretly carved into a mountain between BiH and Croatia. The air base could accommodate almost 60 Soviet-made MIG-21 aircraft. At that time, Yugoslavia was looking for a middle ground between Moscow and Washington.
”I was really impressed by the raw authentic nature of the infrastructure that has been left untouched over the last 30 or 40 years of its abandonment,” Mario Garbin stated, a visitor.
”I really love that feeling of untouched nature mixed with the incredible ingenuity of the engineers. They made such a big base, it was 4 km long, there’s a lot of facilities inside and it’s a shame that it’s been left behind,” said Angelo Virag, a visitor.
Zeljava had five runways between Croatia and BiH. Until 2016, it was mostly empty. The fake Slovenian documentary “Houston, We Have a Problem!” gave it new life. Now it is visited annually by more than 150.000 people.
“By turning this place into an attraction for tourists, it would lose its charm and current atmosphere,” says Maria Moreno, a tourist.
The authorities hope that with the right marketing, the base could attract more tourists. There are 1.7 million visitors to Plitvice Lakes nearby.
“By revitalizing Zeljava, we would create additional facilities in the National Park, which would allow tourists to stay a day longer, and at the same time, the park itself would be ecologically relieved of an excessive number of tourists,” says Ante Kovac, the mayor of Plitvicka Jezera municipality.
In Bihac, they hope that the two runways will be reopened.
“We brought here to Bihac over 200 airplanes from Western Europe, and the wish of all those pilots who came here was primarily to see the former military base because this is something that does not exist anywhere in the world,” says Hamdija Mesic, head of the Zeljava Aeroclub.
Car races were organized earlier, and the base could, they say, be used for parties or as a Cold War museum, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
