Interior view of Derinkuyu, an underground city of Cappadocia, Turkey.
The underground cities of Cappadocia—located in the middle of Turkey’s Central Anatolia Plateau—are one of the most awe-inspiring and curious remnants of the ancient world. Comprised of vast tunnel complexes, these cities are one of many byproducts of the region's historic volcanic activity and resultant plenitude of soft volcanic rock. Other consequent structures include rock-hewn cells and churches as well as erosion-made fairy chimneys (or hoodoos), cones, caves, and valleys.
The region's underground cities are especially awe-inspiring for their display of human ingenuity and daring. While the specific number of these underground cities varies according to different institutions and parameters, there are approximately thirty-five.
Göreme National Park, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, is home to two underground cities that are especially popular with tourists: Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı.
The underground city of Kaymaklı.
Derinkuyu is eighteen stories deep and large enough to accommodate up to 20,000 people. It, like many other iterations, was built with a myriad of life-sustaining and enriching features that made long-term refuge underground possible.
In the case of Derinkuyu, these include wells for water, ventilation systems, individual living spaces, stables for livestock, religious halls, and schools.
Although we can not be entirely certain about who initially made these underground cities or why, it is clear that they were used by many generations for a similar purpose—to hide for extended periods of time.
We also know that humans have inhabited the area since at least the fourth century, when, according to UNESCO, "small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock.” Later on, it is believed that these communities eventually went underground in order to evade Arab forces.
Anna Claire Mauney is the former managing editor for Art & Object. A writer and artist living in North Carolina, she is interested in illustration, the 18th-century, and viceregal South America. She is also the co-host of An Obsessive Nature, a podcast about writing and pop culture.
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