Back at the start of September I persuaded Nicky that we should go to Fife for the day and visit Scotland’s Secret Bunker. I’ve been wanting to visit this museum for a while now, but every time we are in Fife the weather seems to be far to nice to spend the day in an underground bunker.
The mock farmhouse hiding the entrance to the bunker.
The museum was a mixture of the very interesting, for someone who grew up in Cold War atmosphere of the 70’s and 80’s, and the very poorly executed. My first complaint is that as well as the admission fee you have to buy and audio guide or a guide book, very few of the exhibits are well labeled. For example, there is a room full of old BT telephone equipment, but there is little explanation as to what each item is and how it was used!
Another complaint is that the displays are now showing their age, the mannequins used look like they are cast-offs from a department store and the displays seemed to have been arranged by someone who wanted to cram in as many items as possible rather than tell a story. My final complaint about the interior is that the audio visual presentations are terrible. There are a number of interesting films being shown but the televisions used are tiny 14″ CRT devices rather than large modern flat screens, and the films seem to be played back from the original video tape complete with accompanying picture and sound degradation.
Immediately outside the farmhouse above the bunker is a collection of old military vehicles. Unfortunately these are kept behind wire fences to stop you getting near them. What is the point of this? I wanted to walk around the vehicles, look at them closely and take some photographs. In addition to the vehicles being chained off so is the mound of earth that covers the bunker, given that this was designed to survive a nuclear strike I fail to understand why I cannot walk over the mound or perhaps stop and have a picnic on the grass.
Photographs of the Secret Bunker, and our trip to Elie and Anstruther, are available in the gallery.
To contrast this experience with how an exhibition should be done we visited the Kylie: The Exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. First up entry is free, and you get given a guide leaflet as you walk in the door. The exhibition is clearly laid out, divided into different sections such as stage costumes, video costumes, and photo shoot costumes. Even the large collection of photographs is in chronological order. The only minor niggle is that, as with all high profile exhibitions, photography is not allowed, but overall a thumbs up and highly recommended