Exploring an Underground City

Around 40 minutes outside of Cappadocia, there is an underground city called Derinkuyu. I take a taxi there for an hour or two of exploring.

When I first heard about Derinkuyu (one of several such cities in the area), I expected to encounter a few dwellings and churches and stores, perhaps on par with the Open Air Museum of Goreme. But Derinkuyu is much more elaborate than that — it’s a multi-level city that reaches depths of approximately 60 meters (180 feet) underground. It’s large enough to have sheltered 20,000 people and their livestock (!) and food storage. About half of the city is open to visitors.

Derinkuyu is believed to have been built in the 7th or 8th centuries B.C., perhaps by the Persians, and then enlarged during the Byzantine era.

There are guides out front offering their services, but I opt to go alone and take my time with photography. There isn’t much signage so I don’t find out many details about the space until later. Even without formal commentary, the space is immediately impressive.

… and that’s the last I see of daylight for a good hour. Everything is truly underground.

Red arrows point the way. At five-foot-seven, I have to duck down while going through the narrow passageways.

Here’s an area that was used for food storage:

Signage indicates this was once a living room:

One of several underground churches in this city:

Traipsing up and down staircases and peeking around dark corners activates my imagination — it’s like a giant playhouse for adults. How cool would it be to host one of those murder mystery games here? It sort of reminds me of the interactive theatrical event Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel in New York City, where visitors wander around a building designed to be an old hotel as performers silently act out MacBeth through dance and movement. It’s among the most unique theater experiences available today. Derinkuyu exudes a similar, deliciously creepy vibe.

Probably for ventilation reasons, there are ‘windows’ from room to room which allows for a nice open flow. I peer down into this neighboring room from the floor above:

Residents of this underground city used giant round stones as doors — the hole in the center could be used to open or close the door, or to see who was on the other side.

There’s a ventilation shaft that runs 55 meters deep, nearly the entire depth of the city. This shaft also acted as a well to provide water for residents.

This city even had a winery. So no one had any reason to leave.

As you may have guessed from these photos, there aren’t many other visitors around during my time at Derinkuyu, which adds to the semi-haunted feeling I get while exploring. It’s like Turkish Casper may pop out at any moment.