Derinkuyu Turkey Nevsehir Underground

Derinkuyu, Nevsehir Derinkuyu Turkey

Derinkuyu underground city is 30 km. to Nevşehir and 9 km. south of Kaymaklı. It has touristic value with its wonderful and attractive characteristics.

Yet, the two stories of Derinkuyu underground city has been discovered. There is an air shaft in the middle. The living chambers, wine producing chamber, food storages were linked to each other with narrow corridors and stairs. Paintings have not been yet found in Derinkuyu underground city just like Kaymaklı. The rocky cover which is a strong door of a narrow carridor provides a means for defending the city against attacks.

Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu are the most important underground cities that have been discovered in Cappadocia, and probably the only discovered areas present in the region.

The studies and research showed that the present underground cities do not allow to visit them completely and their full capacities have not been exactly discovered yet either. The underground city has at least eight stories downwards and the structure of the soil allows to open way and build rooms from volcanic formations. This volcanic block from which the underground houses and streets are formed has a cli­mate cool in summer and warm in winter. And it is useful as it does not allow water leakages.

First, it was thought that the underground city was built against the danger of attacks in the first years of Christianity or against wild ani­mals. (Cappadocia region was subject to the attacks of Arams and Persians.) But, according to Martin Urban, German archaeologist, 1000 years are required to built such an underground city considering the primitive and simple conditions of that age (F.Bernard-Derniere Nou­vel Alsace). It was understood that the underground cities were built much earlier than the beginning of Christianity period, in the period of Hittites even thousands of years before these periods.


Capacity and Divisions of Derinkuyu Underground City

There is a tunnel 9 km. long linking the two underground cities between Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı underground cities. This tunnel provides communication between the cities and it has a security exit do or protecting the people of the cities against the attacks of the enemies. It is estimated that both cities have at least 9 stories, and provided shelter for at least 15.000 (fifteen thousand) and maximum 60.000 (sixty thousand) people.

The families used to live in a flat-like division composed of bedrooms, kitchen, temple, food-store, meeting room, refectory and stable.

There are wells in each one of the divisions used as home-place in the entrance of Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı underground cities. The wells could not be kept in their original shape while they are required to be changed for touristic purposes.

A few steps further, you can see two corridors folding 1 m. high. There are carved divisions for placing torches on them. You can go down to the second story through a narrow corridor. And there is a main big hall there and it is surrounded by rooms. So, you can go down 55 m. deep.

Two astonishing points draw your attention while you are travelling in the underground city. The first is the vertical air shaft, the second is the cellar of grape trough.

The air shaft is for the ventilation of the narrow corridors and chambers.
Grape trough (cellar), is composed of a channel in which the juice of the grapes mashed under the foot can flow and a hole.

The organisation of the chambers, building style, the corridors and stairs linking the stories show that this underground city is the work of very talented architects.
The air shaft provides air circulation between all divisions (it is a system similar to today's air-condition system), gives a nice coolness to the underground city as a whole.
There are heavy, intact and safe round stones used as doors or covers in the entrance of the corridors and stairs for security purposes.

These stony doors were used by rolling them to provide a means of defense and protection against any attacks, and they still stand in their original places.
But no written document was found which would be helpful for archaeological studies about these underground cities. But it is understood that these cities were used as shelters by various people in different periods (P. Bernard-Daniere Nouvel Alsace).