Úkryty

Úkryty are shelters or hiding places in Czech and Slovak usage, designed to protect people, valuables, or information from danger such as military bombardment, fires, or natural disasters. The singular form is úkryt. These can be natural shelters—caves, rock overhangs, hollows—or man-made constructions, including cellars, basements, dugouts, bunkers, and emergency or fallout shelters.

The term derives from the verb ukrýt “to hide” or conceal, with the noun-forming suffix -yt; in Czech and Slovak usage, úkryt denotes a hiding place and úkryty its plural.

Historically, úkryty played a crucial role during wars when civilian and military populations faced threats from bombing and bombardment. In the 20th century, many countries built air-raid shelters or bunkers; after the Cold War, some facilities were repurposed as disaster bunkers or storage spaces, while others fell into neglect. In modern contexts, the term remains general, used to refer to any protective shelter, from a simple dugout to a hardened military bunker.

Úkryty appear in historical accounts, architectural plans, and literature about wartime life; the concept also appears in Slovak and Czech civil defense manuals and education.