Underground city found in Turkiye

The rumors told by the elders in Konya's Sarayönü district turned out to be true. Turkiye's largest underground city, which can be dated back to the Roman period, has been found. Discoveries in the "Sarayini" underground city revealed that the ancient place was a set of structures that offered a high comfort area and wide facilities compared to its period. The region, which has domestic spaces, connected galleries, room-like living spaces, water wells, stoves, workshops, chimneys, oil lamp places for lighting, cellars, warehouses, ventilation, and spaces whose qualities have not yet been researched, is a candidate to become Turkiye's new tourism treasure.

In studies carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the discovered area of ??the underground city, which also gave its name to the district, expanded to 20 thousand square meters.

The history of the place, which has domestic spaces, connected galleries, room-like living spaces, water wells, stoves, workshops, chimneys, oil lamp places for lighting, cellars, warehouses, ventilation, and spaces whose characteristics have not yet been researched, dates back to the 8th century.

"Sarayini" takes its name from its comfort area and the opportunities it offers.

Konya Museums Directorate Archaeologist and Head of Excavations Hasan U?uz said that with the new areas they discovered this year, the number of places has reached 30 and the spread area has reached 20 thousand square meters.

Pointing out that there are many corridors, tunnels and galleries waiting to be cleaned, U?uz stated that the underground city will expand further and that they continue to explore new areas of different qualities.

U?uz pointed out that they may have found Turkiye's largest underground city in horizontal architecture ever discovered, and said, "We did not think it could spread over such a large area. During the surface research, the old men living here said that they had visited this place when they were children and that it was a very large underground city. This year, the difference was made. We found out that half of what he said came true. So, if the other half is true, it spreads over a very large area."

Emphasizing that the work was carried out meticulously, U?uz said: "In our research, we noticed that 19th-century European travelers referred to this region as Sarayini. The people living here also say the same. The real name of this place is Sarayini. It has been determined that the caves resemble palaces due to their architecture, which is very large, comfortable, interconnected, and offers a high quality of life, and in this sense, it is called Sarayini. In our discovery this year, there is a very wide corridor that we can describe as a main street. There are many galleries on the right and left of this corridor. There are tunnels and corridors connecting those galleries. The important feature that distinguishes the palace and the underground city from others is that there is a lot of space, corridors combined with galleries, and an underground city has been prepared for people with the comfort of a palace.

An extraordinary place that has not yet been described has been discovered

U?uz stated that they discovered an interesting place, different from all other areas, and continued as follows: "During the excavations, we came across a wall, some of which were natural and some of which were spoliated from architectural blocks, using the dry-knitting technique. When we started the detailed work, we realized that it was connected to the earth. We removed the stones. Some of them were altar-type tombstones and grave stelae built in the Roman period; some were honorary inscriptions; and some were columns. We noticed that it had a drum, that the column drum was converted into a tomb style in its period, and that it was a room filled with them. Here we found a structure in the form of a pool, oriented north and south, reminiscent of a cross covered with wood. Our work in this area continues."