In Cappadocia, there are many things there’s more than meets the eye. On its plains and mountain chains, ancient people now forgotten have treaded for more than 1500 years. Its mysterious natural fairy chimneys are visited by tourists every year as they stand proud in its ranges. But what you won’t see up high – is the Derinkuyu Underground City in the Nevsehir Province, the largest of approximately 200 historical and ancient underground cities in the Anatolia region.
History of the Derinkuyu Underground City
Xenophon, a Greek writer in the 4th-3rd centuries BCE noted that people living in Anatolia were living peacefully in excavated houses underground. They had large accommodations for families, stables for domestic animals, cellars, storage rooms for supplies, chapels and food. It could accommodate between 3,000 to 50,000 people. Such underground cities were known to have been built first by the Phrygians in the 8th-7th centuries BCE.
Circular ventilation shafts descend 30m from the surface to the lower levels to give oxygen to the underground caverns. This further reveals the sheer size and scale of the building of this city. Massive circular doors were rolled across passages and sealed from the inside for further protection.
It’s been said that these underground cities were later used at large by early Christians as hiding places from the persecution they faced by Rome and Constantinople in the 1-3rd century CE.
Derinkuyu Today
Derinkuyu is made up of eleven levels but only eight have been excavated which goes to a depth of about 85 meters down, and only four are accessible to tourists.
Today, there is a missionary school that exists and is being run in Derinkuyu. It contains a confession place and baptism pool and is one of the main attractions in the underground city. When you tour Derinkuyu, you’ll get a glimpse into what it’s like to live in such a labyrinth.
Only a few of the 200 underground cities are open to tourists. Of the 200 underground cities, most of them are made up of two levels while about 40 are made of two levels and more. Kaymakli which is 10 kilometres north of Derinkuyu is smaller and less excavated but 4 levels are accessible and the experience is similar.
If you’re interested in a tour of Derinkuyu, Cappadocia and other highlights in Turkey, try Ezop Travel’s Cappadocia-Aegean Tour of Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Pamukkale and Ephesus.