Inside the amazing 18 level underground city once home to 20,000 people
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Nestled within a central Turkish region is a subterranean city, where 20,000 people could live for months at a time. Originally known at Elengubu, the ancient city of Derinkuyu stretches more than 85 metres below the Earth's surface in Turkey, across 18 levels of tunnels — making it the largest excavated underground city in the world.
For thousands of years Derinkuyu changed hands from the Phrygians — ancient Indo-European speaking people — to the Persians to the Christians of the Byzantine Era. In the 1920s it was then abandoned by the Cappadocian Greeks, after they faced defeat during the Greco-Turkish war and fled to Greece.
The underground city features numerous cave-like rooms, stretching on for hundreds of miles. In fact, it is believed that there are mire than 200 small, separate underground cities that have been discovered in the region, which may be connected to the tunnels of Derinkuyu, creating a massive subterranean network.
The city, that remained hidden for decades, was discovered after a man knocked down a wall in his home and found a tunnel in 1963. This one tunnel was the start of the discovery of the entire city, as it led to other tunnels that eventually connected a multitude of halls and chambers.
Tourists can experience a taste of underground life for 60 Turkish lira (£1.35). However, it might not be for the faint-hearted—the tunnels are narrow and not very high, meaning individuals have to navigate them stooped over and single-file. The tunnels also feature 'doors' made of large round boulders, only moveable from the inside. They also feature a small hole, which was used to spear invaders.
