Derinkuyu: The Underground City Buried Beneath Cappadocian Homes

In 1963, in the town of Derinkuyu in Türkiye’s Nevşehir Province, a resident renovating his house broke through a wall. A local account says his chickens kept disappearing, so he searched for the opening they had found. Behind the wall was a room that did not appear on any plan of the house. At the far end, a passage had been cut straight into the volcanic rock. It led to Derinkuyu: a city below ground, with rooms linked by narrow corridors and stone doors that could be locked from the inside.

The first person to descend did not find a wine cellar or a temporary hideout. He found a complete settlement. Eight levels are open to visitors, while surveys indicate that the system may descend about 85 metres. The mapped sections contain animal stalls, food stores, kitchens, wine and oil presses, meeting rooms, a school, a chapel, wells and toilets. A main ventilation shaft about 55 metres deep connects the surface to the lower levels; more than fifty smaller shafts move air through the complex. A 2016 Elsevier engineering study estimated that the whole city could shelter as many as 20,000 people with livestock and supplies.