The infrastructure today is unimaginable in terms of constructing sky scrapper, which has touched skies that are 800 meters from the earth’s surface. Though the technology is getting advanced day-by-day, there is always a greater impact on our environment. The concept of underground constructions can either be made for one self protection from natural disaster, preventing the harmful radiation from nuclear weapon, climate change, housing thousands, or preventing the pollution and population. These problems can be prevented by a bigger solution available through engineering.
The underground construction can consist of tunnels, caves, and housings. But there are few underground so called cities, which consist of theatres, shopping malls, art gallery and many more. Here we have listed the 10 most incredible underground cities in the world, which you would definitely need to visit once in your life time.
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10. Cheyenne Mountain Complex (US)
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, located in Colorado, is a nuclear bunker that was built beneath the Cheyenne Mountain. This underground city was built during the Cold War with Soviet Union to monitor their incoming missiles and aircrafts. Cheyenne Mountain Complex is designed to be able to withstand a direct hit from nuclear bomb. However, majority of the military operations were migrated to Peterson Air Force Base in 2006, this underground city still exist today and is been occupied by some people.
9. Shanghai Tunnels (US)
Shanghai Tunnels is located in Northwest regions of United States and is rumoured to be recognized as “The Forbidden City”. Shanghai Tunnels is well known for its illegal activities such as gambling, smuggling, kidnapping and prostitution. Men are generally kidnapped and are made as slaves by making them work in abroad ships. The activities in Shanghai Tunnels are quite similar to those happening in Moose Jaw Underground city. Today, Shanghai Tunnels is pretty safe and can be visited at lower risk.
8. Matmata (Tunisia)
Matmata is a small town located in Tunisia, whose primary speaking language is Berber. The underground city is entirely made of mud and was constructed by digging large pit on the ground. Matmata was never disclosed by the inhabitants until 1967. Intense rain there after created a major problem for the inhabitants, where the rain lasted for 22 days, spoiling the entire structure of the underground city. In order to renovate the dugouts, the inhabitants had to delegate the city to community centre of the region of Gabes. In 1976, Matmata was used for filming the movie- Star Wars. Today, Matmata is a famous tourist spot in Tunisia.
7. Cappadocia (Turkey)
Cappadocia is an ancient Turkish city, which was built in 7th century, and is one of the most famous underground cities in the world. It consists of seven underground layers that are dug in soft rocks for the inhabitants, which consists of shops, churches and schools. The underground city is capable of hosting up to 20,000 people and is extended to a depth of 200 feet. The underground cities in Turkey were used by Christians as hiding place from the Roman Empires.
6. Kish (Iran)
Kish is a mysterious underground city, which lies beneath the coast of Iran. Kish is also recognized as Kish underground city, however, is not provided with an official name. This underground city is said to have built 2,500 year ago with area of six square miles, which was primarily used as water management system. Now, Kish is renovated and modified into a tourist spot, which include restaurants, malls, art gallery and shopping complex.
5. Coober Pedy (Australia)
Coober Pedy is located in northern regions of Australia that is home to about 1,700 people. It is recognized as opal capital of the world because it produces more of gemstones than anywhere else on earth. Coober Pedy is located at a location in Australia where there is always scorching heat throughout the day. In order to prevent heat, the “dugouts” were built to overcome the searing heat of 104 Degrees Fahrenheit during summer. The “dugouts” are maintained at a constant cooling temperature during summer to prevent blister and dehydration of the occupants. The underground city features many homes, hotels, a pub, a casino and several museums.
4. Burlington Nuclear Bunker (England)
Burlington Nuclear Bunker, also called as Secret English City, is a huge underground city built in the 1950s. As the name says, the bunker was built to prevent the nuclear radiation and poisonous gas. The underground city is capable of housing more than 4,000 occupants. It also consists of railway station, pub, cafeterias, second largest phone exchange in Burlington, a water treatment facility, and roads of 95 km. The temperature were consistently maintained at 20-degree Celsius. The railway lines were constructed especially for English royalty to escape when they were at dangers. The Secret English City was functional until 1991, when cold war was almost to the end.
3. Moose Jaw (Canada)
Moose Jaw is a hidden underground city, which was built in 1908. There is a series of tunnels beneath the town of Saskatchewan that were intentionally built to sustain the climate during winter season. The temperature at Saskatchewan drips to exceptionally low and hence the tunnels were built. During early twentieth century, people started relocating with their entire family, which led to the creation of underground city. As the time passed, the underground city became a prime place for gambling, prostitution and illegal activities. During the prohibition era, the railway line between Moose Jaw and Chicago led to the major contributors towards brothel and high number of casinos.
2. Beijing Underground
The most shocking construction by Mao Zedong is below the streets of Beijing. There is a huge underground city below the streets of Beijing, which was initiated in 1969. The motto of Beijing Underground was due to military defence and to house the population of Beijing in the event of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The underground city is so vast that, it consists of malls, hospitals, schools, factories, farms, warehouse and many more. The area of Beijing Underground is estimated to be about 85 square kilometres, which was constructed by over 300,000 workers.
1. Wieliczka Salt Mine (Poland)
Wieliczka Salt Mine, as the name says, is one of the oldest and major producers of table salt until 2007. The Wieliczka Salt mine was run by Zupy Krakowskie, right from the thirteenth century. The underground city is well developed, which estimates 1 million head count visits every year. It comprises of a dozen of statues, four chapels and is also believed to feature an underground lake where a family of godliness live in the middle of the lake in an artificial island.
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