Malta has had an extensive history, but one of the most prominent stories is its role during World War II. Malta was known to be one of the most bombed places during the war, having been an important base for the British Empire. In a recent video, National Geographic headed down into air raid shelters beneath the capital to explore this closed off beauty.

“Under Malta’s capital, Valletta, Marty Morgan and Pete Kelsey are exploring tunnels that have been sealed off to the public for more than 70 years. They want to discover the real extent of these underground air raid shelters.” They mention that over time, the limestone becomes unstable and the bedrock doesn’t hold up, resulting in collapses.

Their guide through these dangerous caverns is engineer Marc Zimmermann from Malta Underground. “My god this place just goes on and on and on, doesn’t it?” they say, amazed at the extent of the air raid shelters. “Because these tunnels are so unsafe to access, they’re also a time capsule, virtually untouched,” the narrator says.

The experts come to a crossroads, which is “one of the major intersections that matches the roads above,” says Marc.  “Wow! Is that the same name as the street?!” Pete says. The underground shelters were laid out in the same way as the streets above, even named the same. “You have Merchants Street heading in this direction, and there’s Santa Lucia Street here.” “A city under the city following the street grid above.”

Within the shelters are dozens of small cubicles. One cubicle in particular grabs Pete’s attention. “Woah, look at that!” he says, staring down at beautiful tile work in a shelter cubicle. “These tiny cubicles would have been made much more homely and comfortable by individual families living in there,” Marc says. “It’s amazing that such a small dash of colour would give people a bit more hope and tell them, you know, ‘this is where we live when we have to shelter from the incessant air raids.’”

“Well, if you’ve got time to make your home beautiful, well that suggests you’re going to be down here a while,” Morty chimes in. “For some time, air raids were so incessant and so intense, people had barely time to get up top to breathe before they had to dash down again, and often spend the night in these shelters,” Morty closes off.

Watch the video here: