57-year-old Mustafa Halıcıoğlu, who lives on the street where Mimar Sinan’s house is located in Kayseri, made an unexpected discovery when he started the renovation of his house 5 years ago. While renovating his house, he discovered that there was an underground city under his house dating back 2,000 years. After this exciting discovery, Mustafa Halıcıoğlu expanded his work by purchasing 4 houses on the street.
This historical underground city was unearthed in cooperation with the Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of Environmental and Cultural Values (ÇEKÜL) and “Halıcıoğlu Underground City” was named.
ÇEKÜL Representative Prof. Dr. Osman Özsoy explained that they noticed this important discovery about 3-4 years ago and the work is still continuing. He stated that they worked with great devotion to clean the underground city and make it accessible to the public.
Approximately 150-200 meters long He stated that they estimate that this underground city dates back to approximately 2 thousand years ago. Prof. Dr. Osman Özsoy also pointed out that this underground city, like its counterparts in Cappadocia, contains stone closure structures, mechanisms, living spaces and passages.
Mustafa Halıcıoğlu explained that his father was a former carpet manufacturer and that his surroundings had become neglected over time. He also stated that the underground city was unearthed in this region after a long cleaning and restoration process. Halıcıoğlu emphasized that he started these works with the aim of leaving a legacy to future generations and that this process exhausted them both financially and spiritually.
Halıcıoğlu shared his own life story and said: “After completing primary school, we moved to the city. After sharing my father’s inheritance with my siblings, the house was left to me. Our surroundings had become neglected over time, almost becoming a residential cemetery. I bought our neighbors’ houses in order to keep my father’s memory alive and bring vitality to this region. “We believed that we had to leave a legacy for the future here.”
Halıcıoğlu stated that they are in the 5th year of the work. Underground cityHe explained that the current state of the city was originally full of rubble. Instead of removing this debris, it was stuffed into caves. He stated that they poured this filler into bags, cleaned it under harsh conditions and turned it into its current state.
He also stated that they hope to receive support from the state and that they have been working here summer and winter with their own capital for 5 years. He stated that they want tourists to come to this region and see something instead of a ruined area. Halıcıoğlu emphasized that they estimate that this underground city is approximately 300 square meters and that it is completely full of garbage and rubble. He added that cleaning this situation was one of their biggest challenges and said that they estimated that this area was probably 3-4 floors.
