And a bit closer to home there are underground cities, which is what this post is to focus on.
Some notables:
The largest underground city in the world is Montreal's RÉSO, or La Ville Souterraine. It has 30 kilometers (19 miles) of tunnel, spread across 12 square kilometers (4.6 square miles). The 3.6 square kilometers (1.4 square miles) of floor space provide 80% of Montreal's office space, 35% of its commercial space, and during the winter around 500,000 thousand people use the city. There are 10 metro stations, 1,200 offices, 2,000 stores, 1,600 housing units, 200 restaurants, 2 universities, 40 banks, 7 hotels, a cathedral, exhibition halls, and a sports complex.
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The catacombs of Rome are under and close to the city. There are at least 40 catacombs discovered. They began in the 100s and, due to overcrowding and shortage of land, systems were built on top of each other by the excavators; the catacombs cover 2.4 square kilometers. There are also 6 known Jewish catacombs, discovered in 1918, which extend for 13,000 square meters (140,000 square feet) and are from around 100-200 AD, possibly still used in the 400s.
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Derinkuyu is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey. It is part of a network of underground complexes found across Cappadocia, which is what the area including the provinces of Aksaray, Nevsehir, Nigde, Kayseri and Kirsehir, is called, in the Central Anatolian region. Derinkuyu has 11 floors, goes to a depth of 85 meters, and could hold between 35,000 and 50,000 people. There were wine and oil presses, cellars, stables, chapels, and, unique to Derinkuyu, a religious school set in a chamber with a barrel-vaulted ceiling.
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Dìxià Chéng is a bomb shelter under Beijing, China. It was built in the 1970s in case there was a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and because it was for military defense, it has been called the Underground Great Wall. It covers 85 square kilometers (33 square miles), and is 8-18 meters (26-59 feet) below the surface. There were 90 hidden entrances to the tunnels, but now there is only one at Chongwen Qu. The complex had restaurants, schools, factories, warehouses, theaters, clinics, a skating rink, a mushroom farm for growing foods that don't require much light, and over 70 sites for potential water wells. There was protection from chemical attack, radioactive fallout, and even flood.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_city
http://montreal.streetviewtours.com/attractions/montreal-underground-city/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City,_Montreal
http://www.aviewoncities.com/montreal/reso.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Rome
http://www.tours-italy.com/rome/catacombs.htm
http://www.cappadociaturkey.net/
http://www.cappadociaturkey.net/derinkuyu_underground_city.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu_Underground_City
http://www.stay.com/beijing/attractions/9589/dixia-cheng-underground-city/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City_(Beijing)
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Have you ever visited an underground city? If so, which one? If not, do you want to?
I hope you all had a happy Easter!
-----The Golden Eagle
