City of Manazan

Dating back to the Byzantine Empire, the City of Manazan features an entire rock face, carved to create a vertical village of tiny rooms. Naturally protected from invaders and the elements, this rock-cut village has survived through centuries of war and regime change in Central Anatolia. Although seemingly impractical, Manazan stretches up five stories and across 3km of cliffs, and was a fully functioning city centuries ago. The intricate series of caves and tunnels housed churches, storage facilities, family homes and even cemeteries, all high above the ground on the cliff face. Today, the city is no longer inhabited, but locals from Taskale still use the temperate caves to store wheat, cheese and other grains, and the region is actively developing the area for greater revenue from tourism. In Turkey alone, there are aproximatly 40.000 cave dwellings.