The underground city Kaymaklı is one of several underground cities in Cappadocia and was discovered in 1964. Between the 6th and 9th century many thousand of christian people lived in the 11 floors deep city under the earth.

Traces of first settlement in Cappadocia can be dated back to 6500 BC. In the late Bronze Age named “Hatti”, after 1600 BC was the region part of the Hittite Empire. In the following time Cappadocia was under the reign of different kingdoms, e.g. Lydians, Persians and Alexander the Great until the region became in the year 18 AD part of the Roman Empire.

Many early Christians built several underground cities in the volcanic tuff stone, used as hiding places before Christianity became an accepted religion. Because Cappadocia was located at the famous Silk Road, even in Byzantine Era and after 11th century under the Seljuks and other Turkish Clans, the region was destabilised by many conflicts and invasions. Some inhabitants converted to Islam, but until end of Ottoman Empire in the 1920 years, still many Christian Orthodox Greeks lived in Cappadocia.

© Photo by Jens Helmstedt

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