If you are planning to visit Turkey and take Turkey holidays, there is one place which can’t be excluded from the –must visit- list. That is definitely the Derinkuyu Underground City, very interesting place and opened for visitors since 1969. Situated in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province in Turkey, the Underground City is consisted from eleven floors which are going to about 85 m in depth. It is also the largest excavated underground city in Turkey which belongs to underground complexes located across Cappadocia.

Derinkuyu Underground City

Image by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

Here are some basic facts about the city: the underground city has, like we already said, eleven floors and each floor could be closed individually. Beside that, the city could accept about 50,000 people and it had all attractions and pleasures like other underground complexes across Cappadocia. It had stables, cellars, chapels, storage rooms, wine and oil presses…The Derinkuyu city has also large room on the second floor with a barrel vaulted ceiling. It is supposed that this room was a place reserved for religious school. There is also large ventilation shaft in the city which was used as a well.

The underground city of Derinkuyu represents the hiding place for the first Christians who were running away from the persecution of the Roman Empire. Some objects found in this city belong to the period between the 5th and the 10th centuries A.D. The number of underground settlements during this period was significantly enlarged, and their basic purpose was to hide refuges and to spread religion.

The underground settlements, and especially the Underground City in Derinkuyu, are today very important as archaeological and tourist attractions in Turkey.