Bunker Archeology
Paul Virilio

In Bunker Archeology, urban philosopher and cultural theorist Paul Virilio turns his attention—and camera—to the ominous yet strangely compelling German bunkers from WW II that lie abandoned on the coast of France. These ghostly reminders of destruction and oppression prompt Virilio to consider the nature of war and existence, in relation to both the Second World War and contemporary times.

This is the first English-language translation of the French edition published in 1975 to accompany the exhibition of Paul Virilio's photographs at the Pompidou Center. The author's haunting photographs are accompanied by his analysis of the architecture of war in both philosophical and concrete terms. Virilio discusses fortresses and military space in general and the bunkers themselves, including facsimiles of original military maps and extracts from Hitler's "Directives of War." He also examines the role of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, in the rise of the Third Reich.


Paul Virilio is a renowned urbanist, political theorist, and art critic.
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Editorial Reviews

A machine for killing in , Building Design:
"The photographs alone should capture a wide interest; but how are we to think about such enigmatic, radical and compelling objects? The comentary is important, firstly as indicating the origins of Virilios concern with military space and as introduction to his thoughts about the relation between architectural thought and mordern warfare." — Mark Cousins (April 21, 1995)

American Heritage:
"Some stand like parking garages on dunes, some like the modernist slabs you might see on a La Jolla hillside or on the drive out Long Island to Montauk. Virilios text, although sometimes given to the ethereal, reads just enough into these objects to animate them to their fullest as mournful and alien symbols of a brutal past. " (November, 1994)

Bunker Archaeology, Dwell:
"By refusing to recoil in horror from these ironic monuments, or even simply to ignore them as so many other shell-shocked by the experience of war had done, Virilio admirably shows how even the most challenging forms of architecture are open to historical debate and aesthetic interpretation. The books black-and-white photographs are poignant illustrations of his larger points. " — Geoff Manaugh (January, 2008)

Bunker Archaeology, Dwell Daily / Dwell Blog:
"Paul Virilio's classic book of wartime architectural history, Bunker Archeology, is finally back in print with a fantastic new edition from Princeton Architectural Press. The book had taken on the feel of something like an urban legendsomething of which many had heard but few had directly experiencedso it's good to get our hands on a copy." — Geoff Manaugh (January, 2009)

The Village Voice Literary Supplement:
"Bunker Archeology is a brilliant grab bag of reflections on the evolution of military architecture, the construction of the Third Reichs Atlantic Wall, and the time, space, and technology of war....Virilios nuanced ideas leap and grow as the book progresses; he combines technical information and historical facts with poetry. For someone so preoccupied by concrete bunkers, hes amazingly agile." — Christine Schwartz (June, 1994)

The Archaeology of Aggression, Architectural Record:
"The Atlantic Wall, (was) an attempt by the Germans to fortify the entire west coast of France as the threat of Allied invasion increased. The relics of this wall, on cliff-tops or among sand dunes, staring out at the sae, are the subject of Bunker Archeology." — Andrew Mead (June, 1996)

Buildiing Blocks, The Architects Newspaper:
"Bunker Archeology redefines the blockhaus within the cultural context of modern architecture, providing an iconic model for French design cultural that represents both its extremes and limits. Its metaphor becomes the means to conceptually objectify architecture to a minimalist end, allowing the architect to play on the theme of the monolith and its aftermath, the fractal." — Philippe Barriere (December 2, 2009)

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