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See Also
See Again
© Shutterstock
0 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Located in central Turkey, the Cappadocia region is home to 36 underground cities! At a depth of approximately 85 m (280 ft), Derinkuyu is the deepest.
© Shutterstock
1 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Made up of seven underground levels, this city once housed up to 20,000 people.
© Shutterstock
2 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - The city had everything for a civilization, including shops, living quarters, schools, ventilation shafts, wells, kitchens, oil presses, a bathhouse, storage rooms, and even primitive wineries.
© Shutterstock
3 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - This maze-like city dates back to around the 8th century BCE and was a formidable defense against attack and invasion.
© Shutterstock
4 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - In case of any threat, each level of the city could be sealed off using monolithic stone doors.
© Shutterstock
5 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Though Derinkuyu is home to the only cruciform church, there are an estimated 150 churches and several monasteries in Cappadocia.
© Shutterstock
6 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - The city was discovered in 1963, when a local man reportedly stumbled upon some tunnels while renovating his home. It opened to the public two years later, though less than half is actually accessible.
© Shutterstock
7 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Located in southern Tunisia is a small city made up of buildings called "troglodyte," or "cave-dweller" structures.
© Shutterstock
8 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Over 2,000 inhabitants live there full-time.
© Shutterstock
9 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - The buildings were created by digging a big pit and carving out artificial cave walls to make a living space.
© Shutterstock
10 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Though the underground complex was only rediscovered in 1967, it had already become quite famous.
© Shutterstock
11 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Matmata's Hotel Sidi Driss was used in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ as Luke Skywalker’s childhood home on Tatooine.
© Shutterstock
12 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - The underground city was also featured in 'Attack of the Clones.'
© NL Beeld
13 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - An ancient caravan city tucked away in the mountains of southern Jordan, Petra may have once been home to 40,000 people at its peak about 2,000 years ago.
© Shutterstock
14 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - The ancient Nabataeans hand-chiseled the sandstone hillsides into an impressive collection of rooms, tombs, halls, and temples.
© Shutterstock
15 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - One of the most exquisite carvings is Al-Khazneh, or “the Treasury,” which features an ornamental facade that reaches 130 ft (40 m) up a rock face.
© Shutterstock
16 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - Petra is also known for its cameo in the film 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.'
© NL Beeld
17 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - The subterranean dwelling was abandoned sometime around the 7th century CE, but it wasn't discovered by Europeans until the 1800s.
© Shutterstock
18 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - Excavators believe that the vast majority of Petra's ruins may still lurk underground.
© Shutterstock
19 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - This small, underground town in Outback South Australia, known as the "opal capital of the world," houses around 1,600 residents below the surface.
© Shutterstock
20 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - The dugouts and mines exist alongside homes, shops, restaurants, hotels, museums, churches, a casino, a gift shop, and even a local pub.
© Shutterstock
21 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - Apart from the opal mines, Coober Pedy's homes were built underground to escape the scorching heat and to hide from the dingoes that roam the area.
© Shutterstock
22 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - The town, which has one of the few underground churches in the world, produces more than 80% of the world’s opals.
© Shutterstock
23 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - Despite its hard-working reputation, the town is also a cozy and friendly place to live.
© Shutterstock
24 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Sassi di Matera, which means "stones of Matera," is the area of prehistoric cave dwellings in the southern Italian city of Matera.
© Shutterstock
25 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - The underground habitation was one of the first settlements of Italy, going back as early as 10,000 BCE.
© Shutterstock
26 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - The houses, as this historical replica shows, are dug into the calcareous rock itself.
© Shutterstock
27 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Somewhat surprisingly, people still lived in the bare caves well into the 20th century—living with no access to amenities and very little access to sun.
© Shutterstock
28 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Soon, the low levels of light and high concentration of disease began to create slum-like conditions, and the residents struggled in poverty.
© Shutterstock
29 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Between 1953 and 1968, the cave-dwellers were moved into modern housing, but a more recent spike in tourism, and the flourishing of Matera's artistic community, have led to a reclamation of the land.
© Shutterstock
30 / 33 Fotos
Naours, France
- Two miles of tunnels and more than 300 man-made rooms rest some 30 m (100 ft) beneath a forested plateau in northern France. The site was built around the third century CE as part of a Roman quarry, but it was later expanded into a subterranean village after locals began using it as a hiding place during the wars of the Middle Ages.
© Getty Images
31 / 33 Fotos
Naours, France
- At its peak, Naours had enough room for 3,000 residents, and could provide many comforts like a chapel, stables, wells, and bakeries. The caves were sealed off for decades before being reopened in the 19th century as a tourist attraction. Visitors are treated to hundreds of pieces of graffiti left behind by Allied soldiers. See also: The oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world
© Getty Images
32 / 33 Fotos
© Shutterstock
0 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Located in central Turkey, the Cappadocia region is home to 36 underground cities! At a depth of approximately 85 m (280 ft), Derinkuyu is the deepest.
© Shutterstock
1 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Made up of seven underground levels, this city once housed up to 20,000 people.
© Shutterstock
2 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - The city had everything for a civilization, including shops, living quarters, schools, ventilation shafts, wells, kitchens, oil presses, a bathhouse, storage rooms, and even primitive wineries.
© Shutterstock
3 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - This maze-like city dates back to around the 8th century BCE and was a formidable defense against attack and invasion.
© Shutterstock
4 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - In case of any threat, each level of the city could be sealed off using monolithic stone doors.
© Shutterstock
5 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - Though Derinkuyu is home to the only cruciform church, there are an estimated 150 churches and several monasteries in Cappadocia.
© Shutterstock
6 / 33 Fotos
Cappadocia, Turkey - The city was discovered in 1963, when a local man reportedly stumbled upon some tunnels while renovating his home. It opened to the public two years later, though less than half is actually accessible.
© Shutterstock
7 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Located in southern Tunisia is a small city made up of buildings called "troglodyte," or "cave-dweller" structures.
© Shutterstock
8 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Over 2,000 inhabitants live there full-time.
© Shutterstock
9 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - The buildings were created by digging a big pit and carving out artificial cave walls to make a living space.
© Shutterstock
10 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Though the underground complex was only rediscovered in 1967, it had already become quite famous.
© Shutterstock
11 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - Matmata's Hotel Sidi Driss was used in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ as Luke Skywalker’s childhood home on Tatooine.
© Shutterstock
12 / 33 Fotos
Matmata, Tunisia - The underground city was also featured in 'Attack of the Clones.'
© NL Beeld
13 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - An ancient caravan city tucked away in the mountains of southern Jordan, Petra may have once been home to 40,000 people at its peak about 2,000 years ago.
© Shutterstock
14 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - The ancient Nabataeans hand-chiseled the sandstone hillsides into an impressive collection of rooms, tombs, halls, and temples.
© Shutterstock
15 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - One of the most exquisite carvings is Al-Khazneh, or “the Treasury,” which features an ornamental facade that reaches 130 ft (40 m) up a rock face.
© Shutterstock
16 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - Petra is also known for its cameo in the film 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.'
© NL Beeld
17 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - The subterranean dwelling was abandoned sometime around the 7th century CE, but it wasn't discovered by Europeans until the 1800s.
© Shutterstock
18 / 33 Fotos
Petra, Jordan - Excavators believe that the vast majority of Petra's ruins may still lurk underground.
© Shutterstock
19 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - This small, underground town in Outback South Australia, known as the "opal capital of the world," houses around 1,600 residents below the surface.
© Shutterstock
20 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - The dugouts and mines exist alongside homes, shops, restaurants, hotels, museums, churches, a casino, a gift shop, and even a local pub.
© Shutterstock
21 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - Apart from the opal mines, Coober Pedy's homes were built underground to escape the scorching heat and to hide from the dingoes that roam the area.
© Shutterstock
22 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - The town, which has one of the few underground churches in the world, produces more than 80% of the world’s opals.
© Shutterstock
23 / 33 Fotos
Coober Pedy, Australia - Despite its hard-working reputation, the town is also a cozy and friendly place to live.
© Shutterstock
24 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Sassi di Matera, which means "stones of Matera," is the area of prehistoric cave dwellings in the southern Italian city of Matera.
© Shutterstock
25 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - The underground habitation was one of the first settlements of Italy, going back as early as 10,000 BCE.
© Shutterstock
26 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - The houses, as this historical replica shows, are dug into the calcareous rock itself.
© Shutterstock
27 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Somewhat surprisingly, people still lived in the bare caves well into the 20th century—living with no access to amenities and very little access to sun.
© Shutterstock
28 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Soon, the low levels of light and high concentration of disease began to create slum-like conditions, and the residents struggled in poverty.
© Shutterstock
29 / 33 Fotos
Matera, Italy - Between 1953 and 1968, the cave-dwellers were moved into modern housing, but a more recent spike in tourism, and the flourishing of Matera's artistic community, have led to a reclamation of the land.
© Shutterstock
30 / 33 Fotos
Naours, France
- Two miles of tunnels and more than 300 man-made rooms rest some 30 m (100 ft) beneath a forested plateau in northern France. The site was built around the third century CE as part of a Roman quarry, but it was later expanded into a subterranean village after locals began using it as a hiding place during the wars of the Middle Ages.
© Getty Images
31 / 33 Fotos
Naours, France
- At its peak, Naours had enough room for 3,000 residents, and could provide many comforts like a chapel, stables, wells, and bakeries. The caves were sealed off for decades before being reopened in the 19th century as a tourist attraction. Visitors are treated to hundreds of pieces of graffiti left behind by Allied soldiers. See also: The oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world
© Getty Images
32 / 33 Fotos
Impressive underground cities where people actually lived
You'll be surprised at what you can do with a hole in the ground
© Shutterstock
Hidden entrances, ancient tunnels, and complex histories lurk beneath earth's surface, teeming with tales of a life that few people know much about. Many underground paths or malls claim to be cities, but check out this gallery to see the few real underground habitations where people have actually carried out their lives.
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