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| An underground city newly discovered in Turkey’s Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir (Cappadocia), which is located under the Nevşehir fortress and the surrounding area, is hailed as the biggest archaeological finding in Turkey during 2014 [Credit: AA] |
TOKİ Head Mehmet Ergün Turan said the area where the discovery was made was announced as an archaeological area to be preserved.
“It is not a known underground city. Tunnel passages of seven kilometers are being discussed. We stopped the construction we were planning to do on these areas when an underground city was discovered,” said Turan.
The city is ... located around the Nevşehir fortress. Escape galleries and hidden [[Byzantine]] churches were discovered inside the underground city.
Stating that they were going to move the urban transformation project to the outskirts of the city, Turan said they had paid 90 million Turkish Liras for the project already, but did not see this as a loss, as this discovery may be the world’s largest underground city.
Hasan Ünver, mayor of Nevşehir, said other underground cities in Nevşehir’s various districts do not even amount to the “kitchen” of this new underground city.
“The underground city [was found] in the 45 hectares of the total 75 hectare area that is within the [urban] transformation project. We started working in 2012 with the project. We have taken 44 historical objects under preservation. The underground city was discovered when we began the destruction in line with the protocol. The first galleries were spotted in 2013. We applied to the [Cultural and Natural Heritage] Preservation Board and the area was officially registered,” said Ünver.
The newly discovered underground city will be the biggest among the other underground cities in Nevşehir that have been discovered so far.
Author: Erdinç Çelikkan | Source: Hurriyet Daily News [December 28, 2014]