Derinkuyu Underground City is an ancient multi-level underground city of the Median Empire in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey.
Extending to a depth of approximately 60 m, it was large enough to shelter approximately 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores.
It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found across Cappadocia.
It was opened to visitors in 1969 and to date, about half of the underground city is accessible to tourists. The underground city at Derinkuyu could be closed from the inside with large stone doors. Each floor could be closed off separately.
The city could accommodate up to 20,000 people and had all the usual amenities found in other underground complexes across Cappadocia, such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels. Unique to the Derinkuyu complex and located on the second floor is a spacious room with a barrel vaulted ceiling. It has been reported that this room was used as a religious school and the rooms to the left were studies.
Between the third and fourth levels is a vertical staircase. This passage way leads to a cruciform church on the lowest (fifth) level.
The large 55 m ventilation shaft appears to have been used as a well. The shaft also provided water to both the villagers above and, if the outside world was not accessible, to those in hiding.
History
First built in the soft volcanic rock of the Cappadocia region, possibly by the Phrygians in the 8th–7th centuries B.C according to the Turkish Department of Culture, the underground city at Derinkuyu may have been enlarged in the Byzantine era. During the Persian Achaemenid empire the city was used as a refugee settlement. There are references to underground refugee settlements built by the Persian king Yima in the second chapter of the Zoroastrian book Vendidad. Therefore many scholars believe that the city may have been built by the Persians. The city was connected with other underground cities through miles of tunnels.
Some artifacts discovered in these underground settlements belong to the Middle Byzantine Period, between the 5th and the 10th centuries A.D. It is speculated that the number of underground settlements, generally used for taking refuge and for religious purposes, increased during this era.
Derinkuyu Underground City, Cappadocia,
Wow, what an experience. You will need to overcome any fears of claustrophobia, as exploring this underground city involves lots of ducking and squeezing through some pretty tight places, as you travel down as many as five stories down. However it is an experience like none I had before. What a life the people who built and lived in this…
We were to visit this attraction in the morning as per the tour schedule, our tour guide decided to keep it for afternoon after seeing the heavy rush to get in (good decision although it was still crowded in the afternoon.
The place was very well preserved. It was indeed a great Tourist Site.
We went by bus from Nevsehir to Derinkuyu, (about 45min long every hour ). Very easy so you don't need to find a tour before to visit the underground city.
Be aware that you will be in small spaces and if you are at all claustrophobic, you might want to pass.
This is an amazing site. The effort that has must have been required and the size and depth of this underground city is remarkable.
We visited as a part of a tour and the place was mobbed as they all seemed to be there at the same time. We had to wait for other tours to move along to see…
Belisirma is in the Ihlara Valley, Goreme in Cappadocia. It is the restaurant all tourists are brought to after a 3 kilometre hike. Needless to say, the hikers are hungry, but even this cannot mask the atrocious fare that is offered as food. Tasteless soup (what is in it?) burnt meatballs, leathery stew, and three thin small slices of watermelon…
really cool! Was a bit concerned that it might be damp – but no problem. Our cave had a turkish hamman. What more could you ask for.
tour guide not necessary, there are arrows in there and fun to explore! not for those with claustrophobia
Until you tour the cave dwellings you won't understand how complex and commanding they are. Caves provided protection from the environment but also protection from outsiders who might raid.