Bahnhof Pionen White Mountain
James Bond-inspired Cold War bunker 30 metres under Stockholm with waterfalls and Maybach backup engines
The story
Deep underneath the granite park of Vita Bergen in Södermalm, Stockholm lies Pionen, a 1943 nuclear shelter converted into a data centre by Swedish ISP Bahnhof in 2008. Designed with deliberate James Bond villain flair by architect Albert France-Lanord, the facility features living plant walls, glass meeting rooms suspended above the server floor, artificial waterfalls, and two diesel engines salvaged from German submarines for backup power. Behind 40-centimeter blast doors, Pionen gained worldwide fame in 2010 as the ultra-secure host for WikiLeaks server nodes.
Notable
- Excavated 30 meters beneath the granite rock of Vita Bergen in central Stockholm as a Cold War nuclear shelter.
- Redesigned by architect Albert France-Lanord featuring subterranean greenhouses, waterfalls, and floating rooms.
- Backup power is provided by two vintage Maybach submarine diesel engines fitted with loud maritime horns.
- Famously hosted servers for WikiLeaks in 2010 during the publication of leaked US diplomatic cables.
Expansions
- 1943: built as nuclear-blast civil defence bunker Vita Bergen
- 2008: Bahnhof opens redesigned high-security commercial data center
- 2010: hosts WikiLeaks servers during publication of diplomatic cables
Sources
- Pionen White Mountain Data Center · Bahnhof
- Inside the James Bond-Style Nuclear Bunker Data Center · Wired · 2012-11-15
Part of the open famous data centers dataset (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-10-15. A correction? da@mustardseedmt.com
What is Bahnhof Pionen White Mountain famous for?
James Bond-inspired Cold War bunker 30 metres under Stockholm with waterfalls and Maybach backup engines
Where is Bahnhof Pionen White Mountain?
Bahnhof Pionen White Mountain is in Stockholm, Sweden (59.314, 18.085). It is operated by Bahnhof AB.