“To infinity and beyond”, said Buzz Lightyear, the intrepid astronaut from the Toy Story motion picture! Tending toward infinity, toward the heights, toward the sky has always been an intrinsic human trait, evident in the construction of pyramids, statues, columns, and even modern skyscrapers. Beyond this world soaring toward the immensity and the blue, there exists another that delves into the depths of the earth. A subterranean world made of galleries, tunnels, and passageways that extend underground, beneath cities.
Building Underground Cities
You may be wondering what the point of building alternative cities underground is! There are several reasons that have led to their construction over time. Among the most basic is protection from external dangers and from freezing or scorching temperatures. Currently, in fact, many of these underground cities serve as a way to move from one point in the city to another without having to go above ground.
In the case of contemporary underground cities, tunnels require deep excavations, built in conjunction with other public works, such as subway lines. In contrast, in ancient times, underground tunnels were hydraulic works, places of refuge, or escape routes, and thus legends and mysteries arose around them. Let’s discover some of the most famous and spectacular underground cities together!
Underground Montreal, Canada
The Canadian city has the longest and deepest network of tunnels, called Réso, from the French réseau, meaning network. Extending for 33 km, was designed by urban designer Vincent Pole, inspired by the architecture of an ideal future. These aren’t just simple 1960s tunnels to shelter from the cold, which sometimes reaches -20 degrees Celsius (-42 degrees Fahrenheit), but a veritable underground city accessible from 120 points. There are shops, cinemas, restaurants, a library, offices, hotels, museums, universities, 10 subway stations, and an ice hockey stadium!
Coober Pedy, Australia
We are in the Australian outback, in the South Australian desert, between Adelaide and Alice Springs.
Coober Pedy is the “Opal Capital of the World” for its mines where this stone is abundant.
Unlike Montreal, approximately 3,500 people live in dwellings built underground, at depths ranging from 10 to 22 meters, in dugouts, inside natural cavities due to the scorching temperatures that can reach 50°C during the day.
To ensure proper air quality and control humidity levels, there are vents. In addition to homes, there are also hotels, shops, museums, and places of worship. At first glance, this above-ground town appears like a movie set: a deserted expanse with mine shafts and piles of earth, a few houses, and little else.
Wieliczka, Poland
South of Krakow, this town has housed salt mines since the 13th century, which were active until 1996.
This area includes underground lakes, halls with soaring salt statues, and a cathedral. During World War II, these mines were German military bases to produce munitions. The mine features a spa, a sports field, a 140-meter slide, and boats for boating on the river. It also hosts the World Art Underground, a music and dance festival.
Derinkuyu, Turkey
Thirty-six underground cities were built in Cappadocia during the decline of the Roman Empire to defend against Byzantine invasion. The largest is Derinkuyu, in Nevsehir province, 85 meters underground. Spread over several levels, it is estimated that 20,000 people once lived there. There are churches, kitchens, warehouses, livestock stables, olive presses, air wells, and water channels. The city discovery was in 1963 during renovations on a house. People can visit only 10% of this impressive complex, including the cruciform church, located between the third and fourth levels and covered by a barrel vault.
Beijing, China
Dixia Cheng, the underground city, is 20 meters underground and boasts 80 km of tunnels. It was a nuclear fallout shelter during the Cold War, built in the 1960s. The network of tunnels could accommodate up to 6 million people, the population of Beijing at the time. The complex had restaurants, clinics, schools, theaters, factories, warehouses, an ice rink, and a mushroom farm. Areas were also designed for digging wells to extract water if needed, as well as ventilation systems. Watertight and gas-proof walls protected the tunnel entrances.
Until 2011, living in these underground spaces was permitted, but today, following urban redevelopment, many of these tunnels are closed and filled in for safety reasons.
Underground London
The history of London’s underground system begins in the 19th century with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first subway, inaugurated in 1863. There were already sewers in the Victorian era to combat cholera epidemics and to address the Great Stink, the Thames’s “great stench”. Joseph Bazalgette designed a system that remains the foundation of the city’s infrastructure to this day. During World War II, thousands of people found refuge in the subway tunnels. Some stations were closed to accommodate those fleeing air raids. In the 1980s, the tunnels housed the world’s deepest bar, a games room with billiards tables and a tropical aquarium.
Currently, one of the greenest projects is Growing Underground, an underground urban farm where a group of scientists grow vegetables, herbs, and salads using hydroponics and LED lighting. Other underground spaces have been transformed into wine and champagne cellars, such as the tunnels of The Wine Cellars at Kingsway, thanks to the constant temperature of the subsoil. Other sections house theaters or locations for immersive installations.
Edinburgh
Have you ever heard of the Edinburgh Vaults? They are a series of rooms in the South Bridge, dating back to 1788, unearthed during excavations in 1985. The vaults were once used as taverns, shops, homes, and storage areas for illegal materials, possibly even the bodies of individuals used in anatomy lessons. Naturally, they are said to be haunted by their ghosts.
Have you ever visited an underground city?