Everyone has heard tales of people living in abandoned mines, caves, or subway tunnels. Or maybe you’ve read the book
The Time Machine
and recall the Morlocks, who lived beneath the earth. What a lot of
people don’t realize, is that subterranean cities have not only existed .
. . in many cases they have thrived.
10. Beijing Underground
Beginning in 1969 and continuing through the next decade, Mao Zedong
ordered the construction of an emergency shelter for the socialist
government. It was located beneath Beijing—stretching 30 kilometers. The
giant city was built during the Sino-Soviet border war for the main purpose of military defense.
Within the city were stores, restaurants, schools, theaters,
barbershops, and even a roller skating rink. The underground city also
featured over 1,000 air raid shelters, and it was built to house up to
forty percent of the Beijing’s population in the event of an attack.
Amazingly, there are rumors that every home had a secret trapdoor to
allow the citizens to quickly retreat to the great underground complex.
In 2000, the giant city was officially opened up as a sort of tourist
attraction, and some of the shelters are actually used as youth hostels.
9. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain
Unlike most of the cities on this list,
Setenil de las Bodegas
continues to thrive and is home to more than 3,000 people. The houses
are built directly into the stone walls—not entirely underground—in the
mountains of this Spanish town.
Much of the town is built out in the open, and it remains a
fascinating place to visit to see the incredible carved structures. The
town has served as a Moorish fortification, and was used similarly by
the Roman Empire.
8. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw
is located in Saskatchewan, Canada, which means winter lasts an awfully
long time. Not surprisingly, it was just as cold in the early twentieth
century, which led to a series of tunnels being constructed beneath the
city to allow warm travel for the workers. Considering the time period
in which this took place, it should not come as a surprise that this
underground network was soon being used for illicit purposes.
The tunnels of Moose Jaw were put to use by mobsters and bootleggers,
because it was the era of Prohibition. Where illegal alcohol exists,
gambling and prostitution soon follow, and soon enough the underground
city was turning into a mini Las Vegas. It’s said that Al Capone was
heavily involved in all of this illegal activity, which gave rise to the
tunnels being nicknamed The Chicago Connection.
7. City of the Gods, Giza Plateau
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only wonder of the ancient world
still standing. In addition to being an architectural marvel, some
believe that beneath the Giza Plateau exists something almost as
extraordinary: a massive series of underground tunnels and chambers.
Beginning in 1978, researchers began to map out a massive underground
complex that they referred to as a potential “metropolis.” Known as the
City of the Gods, it
is still shrouded in mystery. Considering this vast underground city is
directly beneath one of the most important historical structures in the
world, it is not likely that its mysteries will be easily unlocked for
the foreseeable future. Furthermore, many vocal opponents to the theory
of the City of the Gods claim that they don’t exist and are a
pseudoscientific idea invented to support the notion of alien gods.
6. Portland, Oregon
Beneath one of the largest cities in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States lie the
Shanghai Tunnels.
They are located beneath Chinatown and were used to transport goods
and, legend has it, people. Thanks to this giant underground
infrastructure, Portland gained notoriety as the worst place on the West
Coast of America for Shanghaiing—kidnapping men for forced labour
aboard ships.
The Shanghai Tunnels, also known as the Forbidden City, are believed
to have been used for other illegal activities such as prostitution.
Today you can tour the tunnels with a significantly smaller risk of
being shanghaied than in the past.
5. Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland
Wieliczka Salt Mine—located
in the south of Poland—was built in the thirteenth century. The mine
produced salt until 2007, making it one of the longest running salt
mines in history. In addition to producing tons of our favorite food
additive, the mine was also home to a massive underground complex that
included statues, chapels, and even a cathedral.
The mine itself is immense—measuring186 miles (300 km) in length.
During World War II, the mine was used by the Germans for building
munitions. It contains an underground lake and sees over one million
tourists per year.
4. Coober Pedy, Australia
Like Setenil de las Bodegas, the town of
Coober Pedy
still exists and is home to more than 1,600 residents. It is referred
to as the opal capital of the world because it produces more opal than
anywhere else on Earth. The town consists of homes called “dugouts,”
which were built underground to combat the unbearable heat on the
surface and to keep their babies safe from
dingoes and
Australians.
Ever since opal was first discovered in Coober Pedy in 1915, the area
has continuously been occupied and mined for the gemstones, and chances
are if you own anything with opal in it, it came from the Coober Pedy
mines. Along with the dugout homes and mine shafts, the town boasts
underground shops and pubs, as well as a church, and even a graveyard.
3. Kish, Iran
Beneath Kish, in Iran, lies a mysterious city that is in fact so
mysterious, it doesn’t have an official name. It is called various
things, including Kariz, but is most commonly referred to by tourists
simply as the
Kish underground city. The city is more than 2,500 years old and was initially used as a water management system.
Of course, like so many other ancient things, the underground city
has been renovated and there are plans to turn it into a modern tourist
destination. The new version of Kariz will include restaurants and shops
throughout the 107,640 sq ft (10,000 sq m) complex.
2. Cappadocia, Turkey
The area of Cappadocia, Turkey, has become famous for its underground cities—most notably the underground city of
Derinkuyu.
It consisted of seven underground levels and is said to have housed
residents in the thousands. This was not a small city and it was not a
series of small cave homes either. Throughout Derinkuyu were shops and
churches, areas in which the residents produced wine, and even schools.
The underground cities are believed to have been hiding places for
Christians avoiding persecution from the Roman Empire, because no one
likes being fed to lions.
1. Burlington—Secret English City
While many people have heard of Cheyenne Mountain, the not-so-secret
underground government facility in the United States, not nearly as many
are aware of a similar structure located underneath the English
countryside. Code named
Burlington, the facility was built in the 1950s to house the British government in the event of nuclear war.
Burlington was built in an old stone quarry and covered 240 acres (1
sq km), and it could accommodate up to 4,000 government officials. What
it could not accommodate, however, was their families. Burlington had 60
miles (95 km) of roads, a railway station, hospitals, an underground
lake, a water treatment facility, and a pub. It also had a BBC studio
from which the Prime Minister would be able to address whatever was left
of the population from the safe and cozy confines below the surface.
Burlington was kept in working order until 1991 when the Cold War came
to a close.
