The Ancient City Hidden Beneath A Town For 2,000 Years

In 1963, a man renovating his basement in Cappadocia, Turkey knocked down a wall and accidentally discovered Derinkuyu — an ancient underground city 280 feet deep, built for 20,000 people, with schools, chapels, wine presses, and stone doors that only locked from the inside. Carved into volcanic rock as far back as 700 BC and used continuously through Roman persecution, Arab invasions, and Mongol conquests, the city was still being used as a refuge as recently as 1909. And Derinkuyu is just one of over 200 underground cities beneath Cappadocia — with more than 160 still unexcavated.