The town has everything from churches, schools, wine cellars to separate rooms for students. Yet this city is different from other cities in the world, as Derinkuyu is an ancient underground city in Turkey.

Historians are of the opinion that the Greeks had built this multilayered city between 8th and 7th Century BC, during the reign of Ima, the then King of Persia. They built the underground city mainly to protect themselves from the enemy during the war. The inhabitants used to take refuge in Derinkuyu in order to escape invasions by the Arab Muslim during the Byzantine Period. The Greeks stored essentials in this 18-floor city. According to historians, this 85mt-deep city was connected with another underground city, called Kaymakli. Over time, the city of Derinkuyu was gradually buried beneath the ground.

The existence of Derinkuyu came to light in 1963 when a local started digging the ground for building a house in that area. Incidentally, his pet hen went missing. While searching for the bird, he discovered that the hen was inside a hole. After going down by digging that hole, the man saw that there were a number of narrow lanes inside it.

Historians have claimed that all the entrances of the 18-storied underground city could only be closed from the inside, and not from the outside. However, there was adequate provision for the free movement of air in Derinkuyu. After observing the ruins of this city, archaeologists have claimed that the 18-storied city could have accommodated 20,000 people at a time. While there was a school on the second floor of the city, a church was built on the fifth floor. There was also a 55mt-deep well at the centre of the city. There was even a separate place for keeping domestic animals.

Both Derinkuyu and Kaymakli have become popular tourist destinations in recent times. Archaeologists believe that there are more than 200 ancient underground cities in Turkey. Among them, Derinkuyu is the largest, as it covers an area of 445sqkm.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das