The Underground Cities, Cappadocia

The underground cities in Cappadocia were built between the 7th and 8th centuries BC by the Phrygians, ancient Indo-European people who migrated to Anatolia. Centuries later during the Roman Empire, persecuted Christians sought the underground cities as a refuge and continued adding their own identity to the place, such as inscriptions in Greek and chapels. 

These cities continued to serve persecuted people until the XIV century, respectively during the threat of Mongolian invasion and the Ottoman era, the latest lasting up to the XX century. Only when population was exchanged between Turkey and Greece in 1923 that the underground cities were completely abandoned. Yet, only 40 years later, in 1963, they were rediscovered.

Historians do not believe that these underground cities were meant to serve as permanent residence to those people, yet they certainly were built to be able to endure long periods of habitation of a large number of citizens. The urban organization required a complex management and work was non-stop. For example, the cities had to be equipped with chimneys, stores, water tanks and also areas where to place the dead until it was safe enough to return the surface. All these points were very important, not forgetting about placing stone doors that were used to block the corridors in case of attacks. 

Derinkuyu is one of the largest and most famous underground cities in Cappadocia. It is located 30-minute drive from Goreme and it was built during the Byzantine Empire between the years of the Arab-Byzantine war, 780 and 1180, and it was inhabited by some 20,000 people. Yet the city was used also by Christians persecuted by the Roman Empire. 

Even though the inhabitants of the 85 meters deep Derinkuyu were hidden, they had everything they needed underground, and the city provided rooms, kitchens, wine cellars and even stables and a school; a ventilation shaft ensured that air could flow to deeper levels – total of 8 - and other tunnels connected Derinkuyu to other cities. Yet only the four first levels are open to visitors, who are welcome since 1969.

Another famous and deep underground city of 8 floors is Kaymakli, located under the Citadel of Kaymakli hill, and most of the current inhabitants of the area still have access to it through their courtyards and use the tunnels as cellars and storage areas. The first floor of Kaymakli was a stable, while the second was dedicated to a church and some living areas. Kitchen, storage places and wineries were on the 3rd floor and the ventilation shaft can be seen from the 4th floor. 

Kaymakli is considered the widest underground city in Cappadocia and researches calculate that up to 3500 people lived there. 

In 2013 a gigantic a new underground city was discovered in Cappadocia beneath the city centre of Nevsehir´s hilltop fortress. Construction workers were demolishing low-income homes for a residential development project when they discovered the entrance of a tunnels that lead to network of rooms. The site contains the same aspects of the other underground cities, such as kitchens, chapels and wineries, and some artefacts such as stone crosses indicate it was inhabited from the Byzantine period throughout the Ottoman Empire. The initial project was suspended and the area is now under protected archaeological status. The site is still being explored and studied so it might take some years until it opens its doors to visitors.