Welfenplatz bunker, World War II bunker in Vahrenwald-List, Germany.
The Welfenplatz bunker is a massive concrete high-rise shelter with a slanted roof designed to resemble an ordinary residential building. Today it houses a bat care center and displays a mix of functional design and contemporary artistic expression on its exterior.
This shelter was built in 1940 as part of civil defense efforts during World War II and was one of roughly 64 such structures across Hannover. After the war the building fell into disuse for decades before being repurposed as a bat sanctuary.
The exterior walls feature colorful graffiti artworks that have transformed this former military structure into a living urban gallery. Artists have used the massive concrete surface to share their work and give the place new meaning.
The building stands at Celler Straße 51 in the Vahrenwald-List neighborhood and now operates as a care station for bats managed by a local wildlife center. The location is easily visible from the street, and the exterior artwork makes it stand out as an active cultural landmark.
Journalist Günter Wallraff spent several nights inside the shelter in 2009 to document the conditions of people experiencing homelessness. His visits revealed how this wartime structure was temporarily repurposed as emergency housing, showing the shifting social uses of the building over time.
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