The birth of the idea of underground cities seems to belong to Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion of the duality of good and evil. Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity mentioned by Zoroaster (Zarathustra), equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology, is the one who invented the concept of «underground cities», as a way to save people during the glaciation period of the «days of Malkush».
As in many other situations it is difficult to separate truth from legend. Science has discovered that around 12,000 years ago there was a glacial period called the «Younger Dryas». Is this period equivalent to the “days of Malkush”?
Let us somehow imagine being in the Mesolithic, hunting with microlith tools (material coming from the crystallization of volcanic rocks, we are still far from the Iron Age), fishing and having fun taming the dog. Could we have dug down to build underground cities?
What excavation technology could the first descendants of Cro-Magnon man (Homo Sapiens Fossilis) use when they had just invented the bow, historians still ask, who have calculated that today it would take at least a few decades of intense work to complete such a work.
What does our past hide from us?
Below are some examples of amazing constructions as they appear to us today. The following questions still await an answer.
1. Derinkuyu (Cappadocia) – ancient Elengubu (Türkiye)
It is known that the Turkish region of Cappadocia is dotted with several underground cities (36 in total), the largest of which isDerinkuyu. Inside there are 18 windows dug into the ground, this building, containing kitchens, ventilation shafts, chapels, various living spaces, but also rooms used, over the centuries, for food preparation or preservation activities, is approximately 3000 years old. That is, in the copper age, 500 years before the bronze age.
What technology was used to build this enormous underground construction that could house 20,000 people? And how long?
It is believed that the Hittites and Phrygians started the excavations, followed by other groups and Christians also took refuge here in the Byzantine era.
And they all happened underground, at a depth of 85 m!
2. Mina de sare Wieliczka (Poland)
It dates back to around 1200 and functioned as a real salt mine. It was discovered on the outskirts of Krakow and called the «Underground Salt Cathedral». This is because, over the centuries, miners descended into depths have dug a veritable labyrinth of salt tunnels that extend up to 3000 m underground.
True plastic artists, the miners sculpted chandeliers, statues and bas-reliefs in salt, culminating in an extraordinary reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous canvas «The Last Supper».
3. Naours (France)
In the 300s a Roman quarry would emerge in northern Gaul, which later transformed into the cave and underground city of Naours. It could accommodate up to 3000 inhabitants who used the space as a hideout, but also for daily life, as evidenced by the basements, which housed living areas, bakers, chapels, stables and wells. Today the cave can be visited as a tourist attraction, revealing an active life over the centuries, also demonstrated by over 2000 graffiti, some left by soldiers fighting in the Battle of the Somme (1916).
4. Petra (Jordan)
An ancient city in the mountains of Jordan, which still hides many secrets, «worked» by the Nabataeans («illustrious people») who revealed, about 2000 years ago, numerous halls, temples and tombs. Among them was Al Khazneh – the Treasury, whose ornamental facade spreads over a 130 m stone block. It is estimated that Petra could accommodate 20,000 people in its heyday. After leaving it, around the year 600, he followed a 1200 years of pause in the known life of the city, so it is assumed that the secrets of this life are still waiting to be discovered.
5. Lalibela (Ethiopia)
The Ethiopian village of Lalibela is known for underground churches carved into volcanic rock by order of a local king, nearly 1,000 years ago. His Christian zeal was manifested through the construction of 11 churches («New Jerusalem»), today considered a sacred place by Orthodoxy, these it also offers a huge commercial advantage by attracting 100,000 pilgrims and tourists every year.
Among the 11 churches, the one dedicated to San Giorgio stands out, carved in the shape of a cross from a stone monolith, and placed in a 30 m deep moat. The contradiction between legend and reality here refers to the period of execution of the works, it would be 24 years of uninterrupted work, according to legend, and in phases, over several centuries, according to the opinion of experts.
6. Orvieto (Italy)
Located in Umbria and having, for centuries, unanimous recognition of the quality of its white wines, Orvieto does not seem to have anything special. However, more than 1200 tunnels were dug in the volcanic ash soil of the settlement, so favorable to the cultivation of vines, which began in Etruscan times. Underground rooms, used for places of worship, or, more pragmatically, as warehouses for wines or for nesting pigeons, are connected to each other by tunnels for movement, they were also used as hiding places during conflicts, in this sense evidence has been found that some areas served as refuges during the Second World War.
In other areas, Etruscan sanctuaries and oil mills from the Middle Ages have been found, testifying to the existence and continuity of an active underground life
7. Plzeň (Czech Republic)
Famous throughout the world for the beer produced here, the city of Plzeň also has a network of tunnels, cellars and wells underground dating back to the 14th century. Worthy of note are the water tower and the ice house.
Legend has it that one of the cellars housed, among the rooms for storing food and drinks, an enormous treasure, but all attempts to find it were in vain. Today the research has stopped and the place brings in money as an underground museum.
Entire cities or simply underground networks have been discovered in the most diverse places around the globe, from Egypt to Guatemala and China.
The Giza limestone plateau, known for Egypt’s 15th Dynasty pyramids, contains an astonishing system of underground caves, rivers, passages and tunnels.
Under the soil of the Mayan complex of Tikal there are 800 km of tunnels and in China the discovery of 24 artificial caves has reopened the debate on the technology that
allowed the ancient builders to excavate 36,000 cubic meters of stone.
Underground cities like bunkers
1. Beijing (China)
Great powers have always taken defensive measures against possible nuclear attacks. China is no exception. In the 60s and 70s it was under the capital Beijing built, through manual excavation, an anti-atomic shelter (Dìxià Chéng), available to host approximately one million people for 4 months. Extending over 85 square kilometres, the refuge was made up of rooms with various functions (schools, restaurants, warehouses, hospitals) and connecting tunnels, all protected. Since the beginning of the new millennium some areas have been open to visitors.
2. Burlington (Anglia)
Fearing a nuclear attack, the British also built a multi-purpose shelter under the hamlet of Corsham in the 1950s. Extending over an area of approximately 14 hectares 30 meters underground, the «Burlington Bunker» was supposed to house 4,000 members of the British government. The facilities were exceptional for the time: offices, leisure areas, hospital, bedrooms, all the facilities necessary for the functioning of government, including an internal BBC studio. In 2004 the refuge was decommissioned.
1. Special Purpose Underground Cities1. Moose jaw (Canada)
«Little Chicago» is a small Canadian town famous for its tunnels used efficiently by Al Capone (whether it is a legend or a real thing, no evidence has been found) during Prohibition, to smuggle alcohol from Canada to the USA.
Before this «boom», the tunnels were used by Chinese emigrants frightened by the law that required them to pay a tax to live and work in the city.
2. Montrea (Canada)
RÉSO, of French origin «réseau» = network, is a huge structure of tunnels and adjacent underground constructions, intended to improve living conditions in the cold season. From hotels to cinemas, from shops to condominiums, guaranteeing metropolitan transport and 120 access points to the outside, they operate along more than 30 km of tunnels.
Built-in seats
Setenil de las Bodegas (Spain
Spanish village with houses set in the walls of the Rio Trejo gorge or under its cliffs. The houses have only the facade, the rest is built into the rock.
The underground labyrinth of Dobrogea
In the subsoil of the Limanu plateau, between Vama Veche and 2 Mai, there are 12 hectares of tunnels and caves, with branches that cross Bulgaria and reach Turkey. Known in the communist era as an escape route, the cave of Limanu («of the Bats» or «of the Icons») is 4000 m long and reveals vestiges of ancient civilizations, sculptures on the walls and ceilings, fragments of ceramics, as well as a system of horizontal signs. But the main feature of the cave is the absence of limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The secret lies in the perfect isolation of the cave from the external environment.
The world the whole is crossed by underground tunnels, some dating back to the Stone Age, whose usefulness still raises many question marks today.
Deciphering the messages passed down by generations since is imperative, if only to learn from them.
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