The Alps and 100 Meters Underground for €1 Million

In the heart of the Swiss Alps, in the canton of Obwalden, an unusual construction project is taking shape: a network of highly secured underground galleries and vaults is being built more than 100 meters below ground for wealthy clients. The facilities are intended to store gold, cash, valuables, works of art, collectible cars, wine and digital data. Prices for individual storage units start at around €1 million, with usage rights granted under 99-year agreements.

The project is being developed near the small Swiss municipality of Lungern, in the Brünig massif. According to media reports, the facility is designed to provide an exceptionally high level of security, comparable to the protected vaults of the Swiss National Bank. A multilayered access-control system is planned to protect clients’ assets against a wide range of threats, from attempted break-ins to major natural or technological disasters.

The largest underground chambers could reportedly reach the size of a football field. And this is not simply a giant vault for gold bars. The underground complex could accommodate almost anything wealthy clients would want to keep in an extremely secure location: cars, works of art, collectible wines, jewelry, cash and servers containing valuable data. Essentially, it is an underground version of a luxury private storage facility — only without windows, neighbors and, apparently, with some very thick walls.

The project is being developed by Swiss entrepreneur Thomas Gasser, whose family company specializes in underground construction, quarrying and work involving explosives. The company employs around 300 people and has extensive experience in developing underground facilities. Gasser began developing the idea of a giant underground vault several years ago, and the project was already presented to the Swiss business press in 2020.

Interestingly, the current complex grew out of a much simpler project. Back in the early 1990s, the entrepreneur used one of the underground caves as a workshop and storage facility. He later obtained a 99-year right of use for the underground site. Over time, the simple storage area evolved into an entire underground commercial complex. It now includes the Cantina Caverna restaurant and event hall, a sports shooting center and a special training facility for firefighters, where tunnel-fire conditions can be simulated.

The underground infrastructure is now expanding into another business: ultra-secure storage facilities for substantial private fortunes. Switzerland is a logical location for such a project. The country has long been associated with banking, financial stability and secure vaults, while much of its landscape is naturally suited to underground construction. Its mountains make it possible to place facilities deep beneath the surface and shield them from the outside world.

In effect, a new segment of luxury real estate is emerging. Instead of penthouses overlooking Lake Geneva, clients are being offered 100 meters of solid mountain above their heads, multilayered security systems and no neighbors on the other side of the wall. While ordinary people buy apartments because they need somewhere to live, owners of these underground facilities are paying around a million euros for somewhere to hide what they have already earned.

It seems that wealthy people are increasingly preparing for every possible scenario. There is just one small problem: if the end of the world ever arrives and the owner suddenly needs to take shelter, they will first have to remember where exactly they left the key to the €1 million vault.