GENERAL DIRECTORATE FOR

CULTURAL ASSETS AND MUSEUMS

1st floor

Visiting Hours
2nd floor April 1 - October 31 October 31 - April 1
Open everyday.

DERİNKUYU
Opening Time: 08:00 Opening Time: 08:00
3rd floor Closing Time: 19:00 Closing Time: 17:00
Ticket Office Closing Time: 18:15 Ticket Office Closing Time: 16:15
4th floor
Address: Bayramlı Mahallesi Şemsili Yolu No:15 Derinkuyu/NEVŞEHİR • Phone: 0384 381 31 94

UNDERGROUND CITY
5th floor Please visit the web site for up-to-date information.

6th floor Drawing 16. Derinkuyu Underground City Map (Adopted from Ö. Aydan)

7th and 8th floor

A DIFFERENT WORLD IN THE UNDERGROUND
www.turkishmuseums.com

One of the biggest problems of the people living in the Cappadocia region has been security concerns.
Some underground settlements built during the Hittite period were the major shelters of the local
people against Roman pressures in the early periods of Christianity, and these shelters turned into
gigantic living spaces by adding different functions over time and became today’s underground cities.
The underground cities, the number of which vary between 150 and 200, are seen as units that the
local people can reach from certain parts of their homes and gardens through passages, and some
of them are used to store supplies and food. These underground cities, which have the capacity to
accommodate more than 50 thousand people with add-ons such as cisterns, cisterns, churches, rooms,
barns, cellars, stores, ventilation shafts, wineries, places where copper and similar metals are processed,
ovens similar to tandoor as a result of carving the tuff rocks under the ground and expanding them
over time, against a possible danger that may come from outside, are among the most popular places
today.
Derinkuyu Underground City, located in the Cappadocia region, is on the Nevşehir-Niğde highway
and in the Derinkuyu district, 30 km from Nevşehir. As in the Kaymaklı underground city, there are
places to accommodate a large community and meet their needs. Unlike Kaymaklı Underground City,
there is a school where missionary activities are carried out, baptismal sections and wells.
Although the depth is 40 meters when calculated according to the ventilation shaft right next to
the entrance in Derinkuyu, whose name is mentioned as “Melogobia” in ancient sources, when we
include the water well on the seventh floor, it can be said that the depth of Derinkuyu underground
city is approximately 85 meters. The ventilation shaft, which has a connection with the earth, is also
used as a water well. Ten percent of Derinkuyu underground city, which was opened in 1965, can still
be visited.
Erich von Daniken, a Swiss researcher and author of the book “Chariots of the Gods”, came to Turkey in 1982
and conducted research in Derinkuyu. In the light of the information he obtained, he said, “this underground
city, which was built to protect from dangers, was originally built against airborne attacks there is no other
explanation for this”, and he also claimed that there were guests from outer space who helped people in the
construction of this place.
Although Daniken describes the Derinkuyu Underground City in such a fantastic science-fiction atmosphere,
Derinkuyu Underground City, which dates back to the Assyrian colonies, especially in the Second World War.
It hosted the first Christian communities who came to the region to escape from Roman persecution in the
century. As Daniken claims, it is not known whether it received help from aliens or any other community, but
it should be noted that it is a remarkable place in terms of architecture, with its round stone blocks that serve
to close the doors from the inside in case of a possible danger from the outside and its entrances that are
not easily noticed.
On the first floor of Derinkuyu underground city, barn, winery, monks’ school and church, on the second floor
living rooms, kitchen, tandoor and wine-house, on the third and fourth floors interconnected tunnels and
food warehouses, on the fifth and sixth floors, daily living quarters and mill stones in the passages, on the
seventh floor, cross-planned church, a water well and a burial chamber are found.