No longer do mountain lairs exclusively belong to the cat-stroking and eyepatch-wearing villains of spy novels.
Now, you too can buy an ultra-high security vault that lies more than 330ft beneath a Swiss mountain range – as long as you have nearly half a million pounds spare.
Swiss security firm Brünig Mega Safe is working to dig out up to 25 caverns from the limestone that makes up the Brünig massif.
It is selling access to these vaults – which are intended to store valuable artwork, cars, wine, safety deposit boxes and other valuable assets – with the promise of near total security.
The firm claims it is breaking ground in Brünig in January and it claims its vaults will be ‘comparable to that of the Swiss National Bank’.
Thomas Gasser, chairman of Brünig Mega Safe, said: ‘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.’
Thanks to the depth of the vaults, they will have a natural temperature of 13C, which is ideal for storing wine and art.
But in a world that has seen increased instability and tensions between nations, coupled with the threat of climate change, the caverns are also being proposed as a place for humans to retreat in the event of a disaster.
The firm is digging caverns in the Brünig massif
The vaults are being sold as an ultra-secure way to store valuable items
The firm said room modules can be added to purchased caverns
The firm, founded by a team of mountain engineering entrepreneurs, says on its website: ‘Additional room modules complement your security cavern where more than just protection is required.
‘For example, for personal temporary retreat areas, discreet meeting areas or lounges with special atmosphere.’
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, which the company says will start opening from next year.
The firm says it is also setting up a centre for security training, risk analysis and survival alongside the underground caverns.
Mr Gasser said 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.’
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’.
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The vaults are more than 100m deep in the Brünig massif
Switzerland has long used its mountains for secure storage
Elite guards will be posted to the vaults around the clock, the firm said
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, with enough space to hold nearly a million people – a huge number, especially 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).
