Mucur Underground City

Mucur Underground City lies in the centre of Mucur, a town 20 km from Kırşehir, on the road between Ankara and Kayseri. It is run as an archaeological site under Kırşehir Museum and was registered in 1989 as a first-degree protected archaeological site.

Underground cities like this are generally thought to have been made by Christians in the 3rd-4th centuries to hide from pagan emperors. They were also used in the Middle Byzantine period, in the 8th-9th centuries, to escape Arab raids. This one was cut into volcanic tuff on two levels, with rooms and halls joined by corridors, and chimneys for ventilation.

Forty-two rooms are open to visitors. Almost every room has large storage and water jars sunk into the floor, plus wells and niches; one circular room has so many niches that it may have served as a small place of worship. The corridors are narrow and low, about a metre and a half high and half a metre to a metre wide, probably to slow attackers. Round stones blocked entrances, and five chimneys still bring air from the surface.