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.
One of the heavy stone doors. They have a height of 1–1,5 m, 30–50 cm in width and weigh 200–500 kg. The hole in the centre can be used to open or close the millstone, or to see who is outside.
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,
Really a walking town area. Terrain was easy to walk and the sights to see are plentiful. Red Valley walk was great too..
There are 3 things one must experience in Cappadocia: 1) stay in a cave hotel 2) visit the underground city 3) take the balloon tour. The tours can be done in one day. The balloon tour starts very early in the morning, pick up time is 4 am for the 5 am take off. After the balloon ride and breakfast…
I haven't been to any of the other underground cities, but think Derinkuyu is definitely worth a visit.
This site was part of a package tour which lasted approximately seven hours. It’s a unique experience if you’ve never been underground. The place is pretty impressive considering that there’s still a lot of the city that isn’t accessible to tourists. It did get a little crowded with all the tourists funneling through the complex.
Green tour is a must. It would be easy to do with your own transportation but at 60-70TL per person including entries and lunch, the tour is a very reasonable option. Our guide was very knowledgeable. We didn’t do the red tour but walked through valleys from Goreme to Cavusin and on to Pasabagi Valley, then back to Goreme.
On the top 10 places to visit in Turkey. A balloon ride is excellent way to see the area.
Everything about the cave dwellings in all of the places in Cappadoccia make the trip worthwhile. Amazing history and great tour guides in the area.
Well worth spending several hours here, particularly if the weather is nice. It is a place that I would come back to again some time.
This is incredible from historical point of view. How it was designed and built thousands years ago, with water supplies lying underneath and vents to provide air, with all the storage and living spaces. We never felt claustrophobic or that there was not enough air. We visited two underground cities – Kaymakli and Derinkuyu and each one is worth seeing…
Within a couple of days you are familiar with the Cave landscape and Valleys of Central Anatolia…then you enter Derinkuyu and you are left 'Breathless'! Literally too!! 8 levels of accommodation, storage, pathways even a church…all underground! Historically, Derinkuyu is a very significant structure with the city being built as a refuge from the enemy but even as a structure…