Château de Brézé is a perfectly lovely 16th-century French castle near the village of Brézé. It was built over the foundations of an earlier fortress, one that sported a deep moat and an underground bunker system consisting of numerous rooms and three kilometers of tunnels that connect them.
The underground refugee is accessible from within the moat; the entrance tunnel being dug on the moat face. The underground quarters, designed like a fortress, would have made it possible for the Maillé-Brézé family to defend itself against enemy attacks, as well as escape harsh winters and even epidemics. In times of need, they would have quickly abandoned the castle above and retreated into their subterranean refugee. Among the maze of corridors, there was every conceivable luxury including bedrooms, bakeries, cellars, kitchens, as well as room for livestock and cattle, and stables for horses. For defense, holes were carved into the walls of the corridors through which the castle defenders could shoot arrows into approaching intruders without exposing themselves. Fortunately for the Breze family, they never had to find out whether their defenses were adequate because the castle was never sieged.
Take a visual tour of this ancient and unique underground refuge at Amusing Planet.
(Image credit: Flickr user Martin Burns)