Özkonak Underground City is an ancient city built into the northern slopes of Mt. Idis about 14 km northeast of

Avanos Avanos is a town and district of Nevşehir Province in the Cappadocia region of Central Anatolia, Turkey, located north of Nevşehir, the capital city of the province. In 2011 the population of Avanos town was 16,000. Historically known as Veness ...

Nevşehir Province Nevşehir Province ( tr, , from the Persian compound نو شهر ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city") is a province in central Turkey with its capital in Nevşehir. Its adjacent provinces are Kırşehir to the northwest, Aksaray to the southwest, ...

, in the

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is bordered ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Description

The city has many strata made up of volcanic granite. Its larger areas are connected to each other by tunnels, and it contains a pipe communication system reaching each of its levels. This feature is unique when compared to the

Kaymaklı Underground City Kaymakli Underground City (Turkish language, Turkish: Kaymaklı; Cappadocian Greek: Ανακού) is contained within the citadel of Kaymakli in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. First opened to tourists in 1964, the village is about 19&nbs ...

and the

Derinkuyu Underground City The Derinkuyu underground city (Cappadocian Greek: ''Malakopi''; tr, Derinkuyu Yeraltı Şehri) is an ancient multi-level underground city in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey, extending to a depth of approximately . It is lar ...

. Each carved room had ventilation provided by further piping when the city was sealed during sieges.

History

The city was probably built by the people of Byzantine Cappadocia, although the age is uncertain and could be older. The Özkonak Underground City was discovered in 1972 by a local farmer named Latif Acar, who was curious about where his excess crop water was disappearing to. Latif discovered an underground room which, when later excavated, revealed a whole city which could house 60,000 people for up to three months. Although only four floors are now open, the complex contains a total of ten floors, to a depth of 40 m. Unlike the other

underground cities An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of the ...

in this area, there were holes above the tunnels used for dumping hot sand on the enemy. Just like Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, Özkonak has a

water well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. Th ...

, ventilation system, winery and moving stone doors.

External links

Community Site (in Turkish) with news, pictures and videos

Underground Cities of Cappadocia - Myth and Reality
in German Underground cities in Cappadocia Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Buildings and structures in Nevşehir Province Tourist attractions in Nevşehir Province {{Nevşehir-geo-stub

Description

History

See also

External links