Who Built Cappadocia's Underground Cities?
Beneath the strange, wind carved landscape of Cappadocia in central Türkiye, the ground is hollow. Descend through a narrow entrance and you find yourself in a city carved entirely from the rock: room after room, level after level, sinking dozens of metres into the earth. Kitchens, stables, wells, chapels, storerooms plus ventilation shafts, all cut by hand from the soft volcanic stone, with great circular doors that could be rolled across the passages to seal the city from within. Some of these underground cities could shelter thousands of people. Descending into one is like climbing down inside a stone iceberg, floor after hidden floor, into a world built beneath a world.
They are among the most astonishing places in Türkiye, a country that is itself one of the great cradles of human civilisation, from the Hittite capital of Hattusha to these buried cities. So who built Cappadocia's underground cities, when plus why did they dig so deep? And what else can you find in this remarkable land? The answer holds both firm history and a genuine open question.
Before reading this article, see if you can answer these three questions. By the end, you should be able to answer all three in your own words.
What are Cappadocia's underground cities, and how vast are they?
Who built them, and why did they go underground?
What other ancient wonders make Türkiye a cradle of civilisation?
Keep them close. We will return to them at the end.
Quick Answer
Cappadocia's underground cities, such as the famous multi level complexes of central Türkiye, were carved from soft volcanic rock and could shelter thousands of people, complete with wells, stables, chapels plus rolling stone doors. They were most likely begun in antiquity and greatly expanded over centuries, chiefly as places of refuge, though exactly who first dug them and when is genuinely debated. POV Travel runs an expedition through Cappadocia and the Hittite capital of Hattusha. The full origins remain an open question.
What are Cappadocia's underground cities?
To understand the mystery, you first need to grasp the sheer scale of what people carved beneath Cappadocia.
Cappadocia's underground cities are vast subterranean complexes cut by hand into the region's soft volcanic rock, which is easy to carve yet hardens on exposure to air, making it ideal for tunnelling. The largest descend many levels below the surface, dozens of metres deep, and are honeycombed with rooms serving every function a community needs: living quarters, kitchens, stables for animals, wells for water, storerooms for food, wine making areas plus places of worship. Crucially, they were built to be sealed: great circular stone doors, like millstones, could be rolled across passages from the inside to block intruders, and ventilation shafts kept air flowing to the deepest levels. Some of these cities could reportedly shelter thousands of people, along with their livestock, for extended periods. This was not a cellar or a hiding hole but a genuine city turned inside out and buried. Standing in one, the scale of the labour and planning involved is staggering, which is exactly what makes the question of who built them, and why, so compelling.
Who built the underground cities of Cappadocia, and when?
Here POV's instinct for the honest open question comes to the fore, because while we know a great deal, the deepest origins are genuinely uncertain.
The underground cities were not built all at once. They appear to have been carved and expanded over a very long period, with different peoples adding to them across the centuries, which is part of why pinning down their beginnings is so difficult. Various early Anatolian peoples have been proposed as the original diggers, and the complexes were then greatly enlarged in later periods, especially as refuges during times of invasion and danger. The honest position is that the cities as we see them are the product of many hands over many centuries, and the exact identity of those who first began them, plus precisely when, remains debated rather than settled. What is clear is that generation after generation returned to these underground worlds, deepening and extending them. So rather than a single builder, think of the underground cities as a project spanning cultures and eras, whose earliest chapter is still not fully known. That layered, uncertain origin is not a flaw in the story. It is part of what makes these places so genuinely mysterious.
Why were Cappadocia's underground cities built?
If who and when are partly open, the why is clearer, though it too holds some genuine questions worth sitting with.
The leading explanation is refuge. Cappadocia sat in a region crossed by armies and raiders over many centuries, and an underground city, sealed from within by rolling stone doors and invisible from the surface, was an extraordinarily effective place to hide a whole community, with its food, water plus animals, until danger passed. The deep levels, the ventilation, the wells plus the storerooms all fit a design meant to sustain people out of sight for a time. Some have also suggested the underground spaces offered protection from harsh surface conditions, or served for storage, given the stable temperatures below ground. These purposes are not mutually exclusive, and refuge plus practical use may both have played a part. What the cities most clearly express is a people repeatedly needing to disappear, safely, beneath their own land. The precise mix of reasons, and how the use of the cities changed across the centuries, is still discussed, but the overwhelming sense you get underground is of shelter: a civilisation that learned to vanish into the earth when it had to.
Who were the Hittites, and what can you see at Hattusha?
Cappadocia's underground cities are only part of what makes Türkiye a cradle of civilisation, and the Hittite capital of Hattusha tells another extraordinary story, one of a great power that was almost completely forgotten.
Long before the classical world, in the Bronze Age, a powerful empire ruled much of Anatolia: the Hittites. From their capital at Hattusha, in north central Türkiye, they governed a state that rivalled ancient Egypt itself, clashing with it in one of history's great early battles and later agreeing what is often called one of the earliest known peace treaties. They kept vast archives of records on clay tablets, built monumental gates guarded by carved lions plus created remarkable rock sanctuaries lined with reliefs of their gods. And then, for a long stretch of history, the Hittites were almost entirely forgotten, their empire lost to memory until archaeology brought it back to light in relatively recent times. This makes Hattusha a genuine "lost civilisation" story: a superpower of its age that vanished from the record for millennia. To walk through its gates and among its ruins is to visit a great empire that the world once forgot it ever had. Together with Cappadocia's buried cities, it shows why Türkiye holds such a deep and layered human story.
Why This Question Matters
Cappadocia's underground cities and the Hittite capital of Hattusha together teach how much of the human past is both astonishing and still genuinely uncertain.
The underground cities show the extraordinary lengths people went to for safety, carving whole worlds beneath the earth, while reminding you that even well known wonders can guard real mysteries about their origins. Hattusha shows that entire empires, powerful enough to rival Egypt, can be lost to memory and then recovered, a humbling lesson in how partial our knowledge of the past can be. Together they reveal Türkiye as a genuine crossroads of civilisation, layered with cultures across thousands of years. To visit them with this understanding is to see not just remarkable sights, but the depth, and the honest gaps, in the human story.
What Researchers Still Don't Know
Genuine questions remain about both wonders, which is part of what makes them so compelling.
The exact origins of Cappadocia's underground cities, who first began carving them and precisely when, remain debated, since the complexes were built and expanded by many hands over centuries. The full extent of the underground networks is still being explored, with new sections and even new cities occasionally coming to light. The precise mix of reasons they were built, and how their use shifted over time, is still discussed. And while much is known about the Hittites, aspects of their history, their relationships with neighbours plus the reasons for their empire's decline continue to be studied. These uncertainties are not weaknesses but reasons Türkiye remains one of the most rewarding regions in the world for anyone drawn to the deep human past.
What Travellers Can Actually Experience
Both the underground cities and the Hittite heartland can be visited, and experiencing them together is a journey through the layers of Anatolian history.
In Cappadocia, you can descend into the underground cities themselves, moving through their carved passages, rooms plus rolling stone doors, and grasping first hand the scale of what people built beneath the surface, all set within Cappadocia's famously surreal landscape of rock cones and valleys. At Hattusha, you can walk among the ruins of the Hittite capital, through its monumental gates and past its temple foundations, standing in the heart of a once forgotten empire. The wider region of central Türkiye is rich in history at every turn. Experiencing these places with an understanding of who built them, why plus what remains uncertain transforms them from striking sights into a genuine encounter with one of humanity's great cradles.
How POV Travel Approaches This Topic
We treat Türkiye as what it truly is: a layered cradle of civilisation, holding both firm history and genuine open questions.
So we go to explore both wonders properly. We take you down into Cappadocia's underground cities and explain what is known about how and why they were built, while being honest that their deepest origins remain debated. And we bring you to Hattusha to meet the Hittites, a great empire that the world once forgot, showing how entire civilisations can be lost and recovered. We set out the evidence and the uncertainties side by side.
We show you the sites and the open questions, then let you draw your own conclusions. The aim is that you come away understanding both the astonishing achievements and the honest mysteries of this remarkable land.
Experience It Yourself
POV Travel runs Timeless Türkiye, a small group expedition from the Hittite capital of Hattusha to Cappadocia's vast underground cities, through one of the great cradles of human civilisation. It runs for a maximum of six travellers, in the season of roughly April to October. It is built to get you among these wonders and to help you understand both what is known and what remains genuinely mysterious about them. You can find the dates and details here: Timeless Türkiye.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who built Cappadocia's underground cities?
The underground cities were carved and expanded by many hands over a very long period, with different peoples adding to them across the centuries. Various early Anatolian peoples have been proposed as the original diggers, and the complexes were greatly enlarged in later eras, especially as refuges. The exact identity of those who first began them, and precisely when, remains genuinely debated. POV Travel's Timeless Türkiye expedition takes you into these cities to see them for yourself.
Where are the underground cities in Cappadocia?
Cappadocia's underground cities are located in central Türkiye, within the region's distinctive volcanic landscape, where the soft rock made large scale tunnelling possible. Several major underground complexes can be visited, along with countless smaller ones. POV Travel runs an expedition, Timeless Türkiye, that includes descending into the underground cities as part of a wider journey through Türkiye's ancient wonders.
Why were Cappadocia's underground cities built?
The leading explanation is refuge. Cappadocia lay in a region repeatedly crossed by armies and raiders, and an underground city, sealed from within by rolling stone doors and invisible from the surface, could hide a whole community, with food, water plus animals, until danger passed. Some also suggest the spaces offered protection from harsh conditions or served for storage. Refuge and practical use may both have played a part, and the precise mix is still discussed.
How deep are Cappadocia's underground cities?
The largest underground cities descend many levels below the surface, dozens of metres deep, honeycombed with rooms across multiple floors connected by narrow passages and shafts. Ventilation systems kept air flowing even to the deepest levels, and wells provided water. The sheer depth and complexity are part of what makes them so astonishing. POV Travel's Timeless Türkiye expedition lets you descend into these levels and experience their scale directly.
Who were the Hittites?
The Hittites were a powerful Bronze Age empire that ruled much of Anatolia, in what is now Türkiye, from their capital at Hattusha. They rivalled ancient Egypt, clashing with it in a famous early battle and later agreeing one of the earliest known peace treaties, and they kept extensive records on clay tablets. Remarkably, their empire was almost entirely forgotten for millennia until archaeology recovered it. POV Travel's Timeless Türkiye expedition visits Hattusha, their capital.
Can you visit Hattusha?
Yes. Hattusha, the capital of the Hittite empire, can be visited in north central Türkiye, where you can walk among its ruins, through its monumental gates guarded by carved lions plus past its temple foundations. It offers the rare experience of standing in the heart of a great empire that the world once forgot. POV Travel's Timeless Türkiye expedition includes Hattusha alongside Cappadocia's underground cities.
Is Türkiye a cradle of civilisation?
Yes, Türkiye is widely regarded as one of the great cradles of human civilisation. It holds some of the world's earliest monumental sites, the heartland of the forgotten Hittite empire at Hattusha plus wonders such as Cappadocia's underground cities, spanning many thousands of years of human history. This depth and layering is exactly why POV Travel runs expeditions through the country, including Timeless Türkiye, to explore its ancient wonders.
Now, Can You Answer Them?
You held three questions at the start. Before you move on, take a moment with each, in your own words.
What are Cappadocia's underground cities, and how vast are they?
Who built them, and why did they go underground?
What other ancient wonders make Türkiye a cradle of civilisation?
If you can work through all three, you understand why Türkiye is such a layered cradle of civilisation: vast underground cities carved as refuges over centuries by builders whose earliest identity is still debated, alongside Hattusha, the capital of a great empire the world once forgot.
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