Underground Marvels (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Edinburgh Vaults - full transcript
The sinister history of Edinburgh's vaults and the development of Helsinki's subterranean spaces. Plus, the impact of the building of Naples on the volcanic ground below.
Narrator: Underneath Italy's busiest port,
Why did these ancient
aqueducts and royal escape routes
Become a haven during world war ii?
Narrator: Under scotland's capital,
How did these tunnels become
a den of criminal activity?
Narrator: And what cold war
relics are hiding in plain sight
Beneath finland's first city?
Narrator: Beneath our feet
lie extraordinary chambers,
Caves, vaults, and tunnels.
The span and the size is just crazy.
Some designed and built by humans.
Others formed over thousands of years.
But how were they created and adapted?
By who, and why?
You've got to face your fears.
Throughout history, subterranean life
Has captured our imagination.
We're going further and deeper
To unearth their mysteries,
stories, and secrets.
Narrator: Italy... a
land steeped in history.
One of the country's
largest and busiest ports
Is naples, nearly 140 miles
south of the capital, rome,
And close to the ancient
but still volcanically active
Mount vesuvius.
Dating back to before the roman era,
This city was previously
inhabited by ancient greeks
Whose influence can still be seen.
The oldest part of the town
Was built from volcanic
sandstone named tuff,
Or tufo, as the locals call it.
The ancient greeks mined it
from the geothermal bedrock,
Leaving behind incredible
underground spaces.
The city was built thanks to this rock.
Narrator: How did the ancient engineers
Achieve these feats of
excavation with primitive tools?
♪
It's like a parallel town
In the underground. Exactly.
♪
Narrator: And how have they
been used for over two millennia?
♪
You find traces of romans,
Where their engineering system
Were creating a city.
Narrator: And how many more
underground worlds are to be discovered?
That's why life is possible underground.
♪
♪
Narrator: Today, naples is
a thriving italian metropolis.
Yet it was originally
founded by the ancient greeks
As neapolis, or the new city,
around the eighth century b.C..
The greeks colonized
the southern coastal areas
Of the peninsula, and
their lands were known
As magna graecia, or great greece.
Naples was one of their foremost cities.
The new residents found the area
To be rich with a hardy
building material called tuff,
Which they mined from underground.
They probably didn't
realize it at the time,
But these ancient volcanic deposits of tuff
Would allow them to construct buildings
So durable, they are still standing today.
♪
The ancient greeks even
used tuff to build structures
That funneled water from outside naples.
What remains is a
280-mile network of tunnels
Running 130 feet beneath the city.
♪
The greek labyrinth is known
as the napoli sotterranea.
Enza tersigni, a phd in architecture,
Has been studying this underground world
And its many uses over the millennia.
♪
Narrator: While today we would
avoid digging so close to a volcano,
The greeks likely created this labyrinth
Without fully understanding
The terrifying power of mount vesuvius.
These tunnels were mined about 800 years
Before its infamous eruption in 79 a.D.,
And nearly two millennia
Before the geological
risks were understood.
The greek excavations
in the 8th century b.C.
Were just the beginning
of subterranean life
Beneath naples,
Which was developed further
by their successors, the romans.
You find traces of romans that...
Where their engineering
system were creating a city.
So I really think it's a magic place.
Narrator: After a series of
battles, the local roman families
Reclaimed the territory
from the greek colonists
In the fourth century b.C.
And they saw a very different potential
For this underground world.
Among the many engineering
feats the romans pioneered,
One of their most famous is aqueducts.
They converted the former greek tuff mine
Into an underground freshwater
system of channels and wells,
Part of one of the biggest
aqueducts in the roman empire.
Built around 20 b.C.,
The naples system was
fed into the aqua augusta.
The romans used it to supply
nine major towns in the area,
Including pompeii.
The aqueduct was named in
honor of their emperor augustus,
And the entire system
was nearly 93 miles long.
♪
Local journalist marco
perillo is meeting enza
To learn some more about
the historic water system.
♪
Romans discovered that, you know,
Just putting some plaster on the tufa stone
Could be a collection tank
for the rainwater collection.
And they start to connect
everything, all those voids,
To the ancient aqueduct.
Narrator: The roman engineers
lined the aqueduct with plaster
To seal it and keep water from leaking
Through the porous tuff.
The plaster was made of various oils
Mixed with volcanic ash,
An effective mixture
that is still used today.
This great underground
project beneath naples
Holds a unique place in
the hearts of its citizens.
Narrator: The vast
infrastructure is surprisingly intact.
This network continued
to supply naples with water
Until the 17th century,
When it was eventually
replaced and fell into disrepair.
Still, the volcanic tuff
continued to be relevant
To the city's fortunes
Long after the aqua augusta was abandoned.
In the mid 19th century.
Another underground project got underway,
Far more extravagant
Than any of the preceding
subterranean spaces.
At the time, the peninsula
was a compilation of rival states.
But there was a populist movement
To create a unified country,
And it was causing fear
amongst the highest ranks,
All the way up to the ruling
bourbon dynasty of naples.
♪
Riots in naples caused
the emperor, ferdinand ii,
To fear for his family's survival.
So in 1853, he ordered a tunnel
to be dug from the royal palace
To the piazza vittoria near the sea
As an escape route in case of emergency.
Today the system is known
as the galleria borbonica,
After the ruling family
that commissioned it.
But most neapolitans have little idea
Of what lies beneath their feet.
Elena covino is one of the expert guides.
♪
Narrator: From may 1853,
Workmen digging in candlelight
with picks and hammers
Spent around three years on the tunnel.
But it was abandoned
once ferdinand's dynasty
Was overthrown.
His territories were eventually unified
Into the new kingdom of Italy in the 1860s.
♪
Covino: I discovered that
this place, it's amazing.
It's full of mystery.
As you can tell, it's so quiet.
This is thanks to the rock, the tufo.
It's a soundproof rock,
So basically you can
hear the city, all the noises.
Narrator: With the
country relatively at peace,
The tunnel lay abandoned for 80 years.
Then came the rise of hitler,
And this labyrinth played a
crucial role to saving lives.
♪
Narrator: The italian city of naples
Had a complicated role in world war ii.
The residents supported
the italian fascists,
Although they rebelled
against the invading nazis.
But one thing was certain...
The allied forces identified
the city as a key port
That could disrupt the german
supply lines to north africa.
Naples became the most bombed italian city
During world war two...
Suffering 200 air raids in four years.
♪
Italian soldiers quickly got to work
Converting the galleria
borbonica into a bomb shelter
And improving access for civilians.
♪
♪
Narrator: With almost
10,000 homes destroyed
In the city above, the
galleria now provided
Life-saving shelter to stricken civilians.
Historians have made
enlightening discoveries
About the living
arrangements in the galleria.
During world war ii.
Covino: We found many double beds,
But each one was not used
by a couple, like nowadays.
Four or five people, maybe six,
One family with one bed.
♪
Narrator: Historians were
surprised to find graffiti,
Probably left by a
civilian who sheltered here
During the allied bombing campaign.
And we have a special writing in here...
"noi vivi."
"noi vivi" means "we are alive."
And this is the most
beautiful writing that we found.
This was about something
good. They survived.
♪
People during the war have
been saved thanks to these places.
♪
Narrator: For more than 2,000 years,
Vesuvius' volcanic rock under naples
Has been excavated to create
ambitious subterranean spaces.
To this day, it continues
to serve the residents.
In 1986, work started on a
new underground railway.
Naples now has more
than 12 miles of metro lines
Serving 22 stations.
Art historian maria corbi
has an in-depth knowledge
Of the newly built art
stations, as they're known.
International architects were entrusted
With designing new stations
To make these public
spaces aesthetically pleasing.
Garibaldi is naples' central station,
The work of prestigious french architect
Dominique perrault.
The station is 50 meters deep.
This is the more contemporary station.
A lot of mirrors and steel.
♪
Narrator: Toledo station is the
deepest on the line at 180 feet,
The work of catalan architect
oscar tusquets blanca.
Inspired by the shape
of a volcano's crater,
The design incorporates conical shafts
That bring light deep underground.
Corbi: It was inspired by
vesuvius, the symbol of naples.
And this is the creator of life.
Narrator: In another part of
this underground labyrinth,
The space is being used in
a completely different way.
Journalist marco perillo
Has come to see an experimental project
Where spaces formerly used for water supply
Are being repurposed
to farm without any water.
Wow.
That's a wonderful place.
That's incredible.
This is a place full of humidity.
That's why the life is
possible underground.
We have an experiment
made by the local university
In which we can see plants growing up
Without water,
Only by humidity and electric light.
We don't need sun to have life underground.
We don't need water.
You can see these
plants growing beautifully.
Narrator: Thanks to
experimental projects like this,
Italy is now among the
group of countries like the u.K.,
U.S., and china using subterranean spaces
To feed their ever-growing populations.
♪
These innovations are the newest chapter
In the city's story of underground worlds.
And surprisingly, the book
isn't finished being written.
There are approximately
10 million square feet
Of underground space beneath
the city that's been mapped.
But it's been estimated
There may be a further
20 million square feet
Yet to be discovered.
Once the aqueducts were no longer in use,
It's said that millions of cubic
feet of rubbish and debris
Were thrown into wells,
with access to the passages
Closed behind them.
There may still be more to unearth.
Surely the city should
think about how to map
All these voids.
I think this place is very special for us.
You know, a heritage that we have to
Keep safe for the future.
♪
♪
Scotland's capital edinburgh
is a city rich in heritage.
But few visitors appreciate
That many of its fine georgian streets
Stand on top of a network
of subterranean layers.
♪
A lot people get confused, really,
How there's so much space down here.
♪
Narrator: Within south bridge,
A labyrinth of cellars and passageways
That lay forgotten for over a century...
Until an amazing discovery.
♪
Narrator: But those vaults
now reveal a sinister side
To the city's past.
They needed a constant
supply of human corpses.
You had the rise of body
snatchers, grave robbers.
♪
♪
Narrator: Scotland is the
u.K.'s northern most country,
And its capital edinburgh
Is home to nearly 500,000 citizens.
♪
The city stands among hills and valleys.
And it is in this pastoral setting
That former scottish rugby star
Norrie rowan accidentally became an expert
On an underground world.
Edinburgh's known as a city of seven hills.
Because it's a city of
seven hills, it's a city
With lots of bridges
connecting all these hills.
Narrator: In the 1980s,
When norrie bought one of
the old apartment buildings
Along the historic south bridge,
He discovered a blocked passageway.
♪
♪
Narrator: Norrie didn't
stop with this first discovery.
He continued to delve
deeper into the system,
Where he found rooms
mostly filled with rubble.
He dug them out one bucket at a time
Not knowing why the waste
was there or what lay beyond.
This was virtually untouched from...
I don't know, the 18th century,
Early 19th century.
♪
Narrator: What were
these trash-filled vaults
He had stumbled upon?
The answer can be found
during the turn of the 19th century
When edinburgh was
about to be changed forever.
♪
Narrator: In the 1700s,
Edinburgh went through
an immigration explosion.
An influx of people flocked into the city
Looking to avoid famines
in rural areas of the country
And get in on the industrial revolution.
People began living
wherever they could find space.
To make the city more accessible,
They built bridges to
join the surrounding hills,
And the first one was
across the cowgate valley,
Where cattle were regularly
driven into the city for market.
South bridge took three years
To construct over the cowgate valley.
At a thousand feet long,
it was a marvel of its time.
When it opened in 1788,
A row of shops was built along the top.
Simon bendle guides
visitors around the arches
And subterranean spaces within the bridge.
The bridge was built to
span the cowgate valley
To link the old town in that direction
To the to the new suburb,
Supported by 19 large arches.
Originally those arches were open
So people could pass freely
Back and forth underneath the bridge.
But quite quickly, buildings,
tenement buildings,
Were built either side of the
bridge, sandwiching the bridge,
And then closing the arches.
♪
Narrator: In the 18th century,
The now hidden arches
were subdivided into vaults
Of various sizes for storage
for the merchants above.
There are at least 120 of these vaults.
Jamie corstorphine is
a south bridge expert.
Narrator: For 30 years, the
vaults worked according to plan,
And commerce grew along the south bridge.
But the bridge was constructed
With cheap materials, and
soon the underground vaults
Turned into a nightmare
for the city's residents.
[ dripping ]
Bendle: And this wouldn't be
fresh rainwater we're talking about.
This would have been water
infused with horse droppings
From the bridge above,
And the content of those nasty buckets,
As they called him, the
slops buckets that people
Used to throw out the
window at night into the street.
Narrator: This raw sewage gradually
seeped and dripped through the bridge,
Creating stalactites of effluent.
The unsanitary
environment turned the vaults
Into a rat-infested, disease-ridden slum.
Because of these damp,
disgusting conditions, really,
Businesses quickly abandoned these vaults.
♪
Narrator: The vaults
quickly became a living space
For citizens who had fallen on hard times.
Desperately poor people
Would have taken shelter down here.
This was a time when people
were pouring into edinburgh
From the highlands, and from, of course,
The water in ireland.
So whole families of the poorest the poor
Would have lived down
here in appalling conditions.
And that continued right on till the 1860s.
Narrator: When the shopkeepers
and artisans moved out
Of the deplorable vaults,
Scotland's criminal
underbelly saw an opportunity
That was too good to pass up...
To establish their
illicit black market away
From the prying eyes of the law.
Corstorphine: The illegal trades decided,
You know, "why are we not using this space?
It's vast. It's dark. It's perfect."
And when the good guys moved out,
That's where the bad guys moved in.
And then the vaults were
used by gangs of thieves,
People running illegal whiskey stills,
Women pursuing the oldest profession.
Anything that was illegal above ground
Was perfectly legal within the confines of
The structure of the bridge.
There was no police here.
Narrator: Among these poor
families and petty thieves,
There operated the most
sinister criminals of them all.
And that's when these
vaults were handed over
To the criminal types...
The bootleggers and the body snatchers.
♪
♪
Narrator: In the 1830s,
edinburgh was renowned
For its medical schools.
And because of them, a
grisly new trade sprang up.
Enterprising criminals would
dig up newly buried corpses
From their graves and sell
them to the medical students
So they could study human anatomy.
If you could deliver a body
to a doctor in a good condition,
You could get perhaps ten pounds,
Which was a year's wages
for a laborer at the time.
They needed a constant
supply of human corpses
To keep dissecting them for their students.
And the law at the time
Said only the bodies of executed criminals
Could be legally dissected.
So you had the rise of body snatchers,
Grave robbers, or as they prefer
To call themselves, the resurrectionists.
♪
Narrator: To avoid the
risk of arrest by the police,
Body snatchers worked in the dead of night.
What grave robbers used
to do is strip the bodies
Of any shrouds or clothes
or any wedding rings
Because they feared that
they could be charged with theft.
That was a capital crime.
You'd hang for there.
But if you were caught
carrying a naked body around,
It was more of a kind
of weird new gray area.
You're more likely to be
charged with the lesser crime
Of desecrating a grave.
♪
Narrator: In the early 19th century,
The south bridge vaults were
apparently a hunting ground
For the infamous criminals
william burke and william hare.
They came from northern
ireland looking for work
And created an entirely new business
From the body snatchers.
They embraced the crime of
selling dead bodies for cash
And took it one step further.
♪
♪
Narrator: In edinburgh in the 19th century,
The south bridge vaults came
to be infamous hunting grounds
For criminals william
burke and william hare.
♪
Bendle: The curious thing
about burke and hare is
They were never scottish,
nor were they body snatchers
They came from the north
of ireland in search of work.
I suppose you could
say they were innovators.
They cut out the hard work
of digging up their bodies.
They just killed people
instead, sort of serial killers.
[ woman screams ]
Narrator: It is suspected the pair killed
16 people in 10 months,
Which resulted in burke's
execution and public dissection.
The growing ill repute
of the south bridge vaults
Was a burden the upstanding
citizens of edinburgh
Would no longer tolerate.
By the 1870s, the vaults were filled in
With construction
debris and lost to history.
♪
Despite norrie rowan's
Extensive clearing of the vaults,
There is still much to discover.
Narrator: To this day,
there is more to explore.
Norrie is taking jamie into
one of the deepest areas
Of the south bridge vaults
Because he needs an expert opinion.
Was through...
Narrator: It's an area which
norrie has dubbed "the well."
Narrator: This shaft
drops for at least 30 feet
And suggests a lower level that
no one has ever explored before.
'cause they were def...
There's no well.
♪
Narrator: While there are
still areas of the labyrinth
Waiting to be examined,
Most of the vaults have been given new life
Since norrie rediscovered
them 30 years ago.
Music venues, comedy
clubs, and even wine bars,
Paying homage to one of
the original uses of the vaults.
♪
They've gone and nicknamed it whiskey row.
In 1815,
One of the illegal illicit
distilleries was busted
In here... this basement here.
Narrator: Despite its past troubles,
Edinburgh's south bridge is
one of many great structures
That has transformed the city.
It is a brilliant piece of engineering.
Corstorphine: And its full extent...
I don't think we'll ever,
ever find out or comprehend
Just how massive this place really was.
Narrator: The underground
spaces created here
Gave the city's inhabitants
both shelter and suffering.
The reason why I find them
so interesting, these vaults,
Is simple as they look,
they're kind of like a window
Into the social history of edinburgh.
Narrator: The stories of these spaces
Still capture people's
imaginations to this day.
Well, I think it's great
that they're still being used
200 years after they were built
And they're still in use for something.
And they'll probably keep
reinventing themselves
As time goes on.
♪
Narrator: Finland... a scandinavian
country in northern europe
Between sweden, norway, and russia.
[ pinging ]
The capital, helsinki, is
now using relics of the past
To create incredible
underground worlds for its citizens.
♪
How have the ingenious finnish people
Transformed their cold war shelters
To give them a new
role in the 21st century?
We have over 900,000 shelter places.
More than we have citizens.
Narrator: And what surprising
uses have been found
For the disused emergency bunkers?
Woman: This is where the
magic more or less happens.
♪
♪
Narrator: Finland's capital,
helsinki, has been developing
An underground master
plan for the entire city,
Reusing older subterranean spaces
And creating new
facilities for the population.
What's amazing is the
full spectrum of needs
They've been able to meet underground.
Narrator: Geologist arend
oudman has been working
Since 2012 on the city's
soil and bedrock unit,
Developing some of helsinki's
Most important underground structures.
The city is built on granite,
which is found here in abundance
And makes excavating
large spaces underground
Relatively safe,
inexpensive, and sustainable.
♪
Narrator: Finland started to build
its underground worlds in the 1960s.
The country was neutral
during the cold war,
But because of its long russian
border and history of invasion,
They excavated hundreds
of underground bunkers
To shelter their citizens
in the event of an attack.
Andreas schneider is the head
of emergency preparedness
At helsinki city rescue department.
Narrator: He's responsible for
hundreds of cold war emergency bunkers
That are hiding in plain
sight all over the city.
Narrator: As cold war
tensions subsided in the 1990s,
It became important for the city
To find financially responsible ways
To maintain the spaces and
keep them a part of everyday life.
Combining community
facilities with defense capabilities
Became known as the
underground master plan.
Narrator: When originally designed,
No one could have
imagined the range of uses
These cold war bunkers
would eventually have.
There are over 400 separate
facilities around the city,
Some of which can be
transformed into civilian shelters
In 72 hours.
This one has been remarkably incorporated
Into the largest sports and
recreation facility in helsinki,
The itakeskus is swimming pool.
This subterranean space
has been transformed
To allow residents to
maintain an active lifestyle.
This is the... absolutely
the biggest one in finland.
About 1,000 people
visit this space every day.
Narrator: In a country
with brutally cold winters,
A swimming pool underground
has obvious benefits.
We are inside a rock, so
the heat are staying inside.
So we don't need to hear this place much.
So we are saving energy
because we are underground.
This swimming pool
works also as a civil shelter
For 3,800 people.
♪
Narrator: Divided over two levels,
It can provide safety, food,
and water for up to 14 days.
The shelter's capabilities
have been incorporated
Into the design of the facility,
Including the maintenance
floor below pool level.
Schneider: Constructed so
that we have at least 50 meters
Of the bedrock on top of us.
So then the doors will
take all the pressure.
Narrator: In the event of a nuclear attack,
There are two doors operated by hand.
The first takes the initial
impact from the air pressure,
Protecting the people inside the shelter.
The second is a two-inch-thick steel door
To prevent any radiation and
contaminated air from entering.
We have the doctrine of
defending the whole country
And defending all the civilians
And we have to protect them where they are.
That's why we operate it to protect people
Near where they are living or working.
♪
Narrator: Reusing
existing cold war shelters
Throughout helsinki is the
underground master plan.
Around two miles away
from the swimming pool
Is the formula center.
It's another bunker that's been given a new
And completely different purpose.
Narrator: Like all helsinki's
dual-purpose facilities,
The formula center can be rapidly
Switched into shelter mode
in the event of an emergency.
Narrator: The city has
provided its residents with spaces
To exercise and entertain.
That is just the beginning
of the creative reuses
For this underground world.
These excavated spaces
can meet more spiritual needs.
One of the city's
architectural masterpieces
Is the temppeliaukio church,
also known as the rock church,
Which is built directly into solid bedrock.
Woman: This is a church that
dates back to 1969, when it was built.
Narrator: Heli suhtala uvalic
Is an expert on the design
of this lutheran church,
Which burrows 43 feet
down into the granite below.
Uvalic: The architects, these two brothers,
Timo and tuomo suomaleinen,
Had been working for the army earlier.
So probably that's where they got the idea
From to build into solid rock.
They blasted their way into the bedrock,
Which is millions of years old,
And you can still see
the marks on the walls
Where they had been drilling and blasting.
They wanted to keep it that
way because they wanted people
To see that this is part of nature.
♪
Narrator: Beneath the stunning copper dome,
The rough hewn rock walls were left bare
On the advice of a
leading acoustics engineer
To enhance the space for musical
performance as well as worship.
Apart from being a
church, we also have around
400 concerts per year.
The acoustics here are fantastic
Because the surfaces aren't smooth at all.
Narrator: And like the rest
of the underground system,
This space has a dual purpose.
Uvalic: So in a time of crisis,
people could live down here
At least for a period of time.
Nowadays, we use this as a backstage area
For our orchestras and
choirs performing here.
♪
Narrator: Perhaps most
surprising of all the spaces
In the helsinki master plan
Is one that does the most public
good in a very unexpected way.
♪
Narrator: Finland's capital, helsinki,
Is reusing former world
war ii and cold war bunkers
For completely new and surprising uses.
65 feet beneath the bustling city streets,
The viikinmaki wastewater plant
Opened its sluice gates in 1994.
Narrator: It's the largest
sewage facility in northern europe
And processes on average
Nine and a half million cubic
feet of wastewater each day.
Narrator: The system is
capable of accommodating
Double its regular capacity,
Up to 25 million cubic feet of wastewater.
This is an important feature
For handling the country's severe winters
When they experience
sudden thaws of ice and snow.
But underground, this processing plant
Is protected from finland's
freezing temperatures.
Narrator: The plant is designed
to retrieve and recycle energy
And organic matter
For conversion into power and fertilizer.
The first stage involves
screening out large
Non-organic objects
which cannot be processed.
Narrator: Dentures, glasses, cell phones...
How they entered the
sewers is open to speculation.
Narrator: Once these large
non-biodegradable items
Are separated out by
standard mechanical cleaning,
Water flows through two
important stages of treatment.
The first involves a series
of parallel settling tanks
Which separate materials
That can be turned into compost and biogas.
Narrator: The process is
highly automated and optimized
To produce maximum results
with a low carbon footprint.
The wastewater left over
Is sent for a final
chemical treatment before
It is suitable to be released
back into mother nature.
Narrator: The viikinmaki
plant is so sophisticated
And handles such vast quantities of sewage,
It replaced twelve other treatment plants
Around helsinki.
When the wastewater is cleaned
here at the treatment plant,
After that it goes to the open sea,
And is mixed to a lot of
volume of the sea water.
The treatment results are world class here,
And when the treated
wastewater goes to the sea,
It does not have an
effect on the environment.
Narrator: The architects
and planners of helsinki
Have always designed
with their citizens in mind.
From protecting their lives
to protecting their well-being,
These subterranean spaces
meet a full range of needs.
And with many shelters now fulfilling
Dual roles for leisure,
The finns have the best of both worlds.
Why did these ancient
aqueducts and royal escape routes
Become a haven during world war ii?
Narrator: Under scotland's capital,
How did these tunnels become
a den of criminal activity?
Narrator: And what cold war
relics are hiding in plain sight
Beneath finland's first city?
Narrator: Beneath our feet
lie extraordinary chambers,
Caves, vaults, and tunnels.
The span and the size is just crazy.
Some designed and built by humans.
Others formed over thousands of years.
But how were they created and adapted?
By who, and why?
You've got to face your fears.
Throughout history, subterranean life
Has captured our imagination.
We're going further and deeper
To unearth their mysteries,
stories, and secrets.
Narrator: Italy... a
land steeped in history.
One of the country's
largest and busiest ports
Is naples, nearly 140 miles
south of the capital, rome,
And close to the ancient
but still volcanically active
Mount vesuvius.
Dating back to before the roman era,
This city was previously
inhabited by ancient greeks
Whose influence can still be seen.
The oldest part of the town
Was built from volcanic
sandstone named tuff,
Or tufo, as the locals call it.
The ancient greeks mined it
from the geothermal bedrock,
Leaving behind incredible
underground spaces.
The city was built thanks to this rock.
Narrator: How did the ancient engineers
Achieve these feats of
excavation with primitive tools?
♪
It's like a parallel town
In the underground. Exactly.
♪
Narrator: And how have they
been used for over two millennia?
♪
You find traces of romans,
Where their engineering system
Were creating a city.
Narrator: And how many more
underground worlds are to be discovered?
That's why life is possible underground.
♪
♪
Narrator: Today, naples is
a thriving italian metropolis.
Yet it was originally
founded by the ancient greeks
As neapolis, or the new city,
around the eighth century b.C..
The greeks colonized
the southern coastal areas
Of the peninsula, and
their lands were known
As magna graecia, or great greece.
Naples was one of their foremost cities.
The new residents found the area
To be rich with a hardy
building material called tuff,
Which they mined from underground.
They probably didn't
realize it at the time,
But these ancient volcanic deposits of tuff
Would allow them to construct buildings
So durable, they are still standing today.
♪
The ancient greeks even
used tuff to build structures
That funneled water from outside naples.
What remains is a
280-mile network of tunnels
Running 130 feet beneath the city.
♪
The greek labyrinth is known
as the napoli sotterranea.
Enza tersigni, a phd in architecture,
Has been studying this underground world
And its many uses over the millennia.
♪
Narrator: While today we would
avoid digging so close to a volcano,
The greeks likely created this labyrinth
Without fully understanding
The terrifying power of mount vesuvius.
These tunnels were mined about 800 years
Before its infamous eruption in 79 a.D.,
And nearly two millennia
Before the geological
risks were understood.
The greek excavations
in the 8th century b.C.
Were just the beginning
of subterranean life
Beneath naples,
Which was developed further
by their successors, the romans.
You find traces of romans that...
Where their engineering
system were creating a city.
So I really think it's a magic place.
Narrator: After a series of
battles, the local roman families
Reclaimed the territory
from the greek colonists
In the fourth century b.C.
And they saw a very different potential
For this underground world.
Among the many engineering
feats the romans pioneered,
One of their most famous is aqueducts.
They converted the former greek tuff mine
Into an underground freshwater
system of channels and wells,
Part of one of the biggest
aqueducts in the roman empire.
Built around 20 b.C.,
The naples system was
fed into the aqua augusta.
The romans used it to supply
nine major towns in the area,
Including pompeii.
The aqueduct was named in
honor of their emperor augustus,
And the entire system
was nearly 93 miles long.
♪
Local journalist marco
perillo is meeting enza
To learn some more about
the historic water system.
♪
Romans discovered that, you know,
Just putting some plaster on the tufa stone
Could be a collection tank
for the rainwater collection.
And they start to connect
everything, all those voids,
To the ancient aqueduct.
Narrator: The roman engineers
lined the aqueduct with plaster
To seal it and keep water from leaking
Through the porous tuff.
The plaster was made of various oils
Mixed with volcanic ash,
An effective mixture
that is still used today.
This great underground
project beneath naples
Holds a unique place in
the hearts of its citizens.
Narrator: The vast
infrastructure is surprisingly intact.
This network continued
to supply naples with water
Until the 17th century,
When it was eventually
replaced and fell into disrepair.
Still, the volcanic tuff
continued to be relevant
To the city's fortunes
Long after the aqua augusta was abandoned.
In the mid 19th century.
Another underground project got underway,
Far more extravagant
Than any of the preceding
subterranean spaces.
At the time, the peninsula
was a compilation of rival states.
But there was a populist movement
To create a unified country,
And it was causing fear
amongst the highest ranks,
All the way up to the ruling
bourbon dynasty of naples.
♪
Riots in naples caused
the emperor, ferdinand ii,
To fear for his family's survival.
So in 1853, he ordered a tunnel
to be dug from the royal palace
To the piazza vittoria near the sea
As an escape route in case of emergency.
Today the system is known
as the galleria borbonica,
After the ruling family
that commissioned it.
But most neapolitans have little idea
Of what lies beneath their feet.
Elena covino is one of the expert guides.
♪
Narrator: From may 1853,
Workmen digging in candlelight
with picks and hammers
Spent around three years on the tunnel.
But it was abandoned
once ferdinand's dynasty
Was overthrown.
His territories were eventually unified
Into the new kingdom of Italy in the 1860s.
♪
Covino: I discovered that
this place, it's amazing.
It's full of mystery.
As you can tell, it's so quiet.
This is thanks to the rock, the tufo.
It's a soundproof rock,
So basically you can
hear the city, all the noises.
Narrator: With the
country relatively at peace,
The tunnel lay abandoned for 80 years.
Then came the rise of hitler,
And this labyrinth played a
crucial role to saving lives.
♪
Narrator: The italian city of naples
Had a complicated role in world war ii.
The residents supported
the italian fascists,
Although they rebelled
against the invading nazis.
But one thing was certain...
The allied forces identified
the city as a key port
That could disrupt the german
supply lines to north africa.
Naples became the most bombed italian city
During world war two...
Suffering 200 air raids in four years.
♪
Italian soldiers quickly got to work
Converting the galleria
borbonica into a bomb shelter
And improving access for civilians.
♪
♪
Narrator: With almost
10,000 homes destroyed
In the city above, the
galleria now provided
Life-saving shelter to stricken civilians.
Historians have made
enlightening discoveries
About the living
arrangements in the galleria.
During world war ii.
Covino: We found many double beds,
But each one was not used
by a couple, like nowadays.
Four or five people, maybe six,
One family with one bed.
♪
Narrator: Historians were
surprised to find graffiti,
Probably left by a
civilian who sheltered here
During the allied bombing campaign.
And we have a special writing in here...
"noi vivi."
"noi vivi" means "we are alive."
And this is the most
beautiful writing that we found.
This was about something
good. They survived.
♪
People during the war have
been saved thanks to these places.
♪
Narrator: For more than 2,000 years,
Vesuvius' volcanic rock under naples
Has been excavated to create
ambitious subterranean spaces.
To this day, it continues
to serve the residents.
In 1986, work started on a
new underground railway.
Naples now has more
than 12 miles of metro lines
Serving 22 stations.
Art historian maria corbi
has an in-depth knowledge
Of the newly built art
stations, as they're known.
International architects were entrusted
With designing new stations
To make these public
spaces aesthetically pleasing.
Garibaldi is naples' central station,
The work of prestigious french architect
Dominique perrault.
The station is 50 meters deep.
This is the more contemporary station.
A lot of mirrors and steel.
♪
Narrator: Toledo station is the
deepest on the line at 180 feet,
The work of catalan architect
oscar tusquets blanca.
Inspired by the shape
of a volcano's crater,
The design incorporates conical shafts
That bring light deep underground.
Corbi: It was inspired by
vesuvius, the symbol of naples.
And this is the creator of life.
Narrator: In another part of
this underground labyrinth,
The space is being used in
a completely different way.
Journalist marco perillo
Has come to see an experimental project
Where spaces formerly used for water supply
Are being repurposed
to farm without any water.
Wow.
That's a wonderful place.
That's incredible.
This is a place full of humidity.
That's why the life is
possible underground.
We have an experiment
made by the local university
In which we can see plants growing up
Without water,
Only by humidity and electric light.
We don't need sun to have life underground.
We don't need water.
You can see these
plants growing beautifully.
Narrator: Thanks to
experimental projects like this,
Italy is now among the
group of countries like the u.K.,
U.S., and china using subterranean spaces
To feed their ever-growing populations.
♪
These innovations are the newest chapter
In the city's story of underground worlds.
And surprisingly, the book
isn't finished being written.
There are approximately
10 million square feet
Of underground space beneath
the city that's been mapped.
But it's been estimated
There may be a further
20 million square feet
Yet to be discovered.
Once the aqueducts were no longer in use,
It's said that millions of cubic
feet of rubbish and debris
Were thrown into wells,
with access to the passages
Closed behind them.
There may still be more to unearth.
Surely the city should
think about how to map
All these voids.
I think this place is very special for us.
You know, a heritage that we have to
Keep safe for the future.
♪
♪
Scotland's capital edinburgh
is a city rich in heritage.
But few visitors appreciate
That many of its fine georgian streets
Stand on top of a network
of subterranean layers.
♪
A lot people get confused, really,
How there's so much space down here.
♪
Narrator: Within south bridge,
A labyrinth of cellars and passageways
That lay forgotten for over a century...
Until an amazing discovery.
♪
Narrator: But those vaults
now reveal a sinister side
To the city's past.
They needed a constant
supply of human corpses.
You had the rise of body
snatchers, grave robbers.
♪
♪
Narrator: Scotland is the
u.K.'s northern most country,
And its capital edinburgh
Is home to nearly 500,000 citizens.
♪
The city stands among hills and valleys.
And it is in this pastoral setting
That former scottish rugby star
Norrie rowan accidentally became an expert
On an underground world.
Edinburgh's known as a city of seven hills.
Because it's a city of
seven hills, it's a city
With lots of bridges
connecting all these hills.
Narrator: In the 1980s,
When norrie bought one of
the old apartment buildings
Along the historic south bridge,
He discovered a blocked passageway.
♪
♪
Narrator: Norrie didn't
stop with this first discovery.
He continued to delve
deeper into the system,
Where he found rooms
mostly filled with rubble.
He dug them out one bucket at a time
Not knowing why the waste
was there or what lay beyond.
This was virtually untouched from...
I don't know, the 18th century,
Early 19th century.
♪
Narrator: What were
these trash-filled vaults
He had stumbled upon?
The answer can be found
during the turn of the 19th century
When edinburgh was
about to be changed forever.
♪
Narrator: In the 1700s,
Edinburgh went through
an immigration explosion.
An influx of people flocked into the city
Looking to avoid famines
in rural areas of the country
And get in on the industrial revolution.
People began living
wherever they could find space.
To make the city more accessible,
They built bridges to
join the surrounding hills,
And the first one was
across the cowgate valley,
Where cattle were regularly
driven into the city for market.
South bridge took three years
To construct over the cowgate valley.
At a thousand feet long,
it was a marvel of its time.
When it opened in 1788,
A row of shops was built along the top.
Simon bendle guides
visitors around the arches
And subterranean spaces within the bridge.
The bridge was built to
span the cowgate valley
To link the old town in that direction
To the to the new suburb,
Supported by 19 large arches.
Originally those arches were open
So people could pass freely
Back and forth underneath the bridge.
But quite quickly, buildings,
tenement buildings,
Were built either side of the
bridge, sandwiching the bridge,
And then closing the arches.
♪
Narrator: In the 18th century,
The now hidden arches
were subdivided into vaults
Of various sizes for storage
for the merchants above.
There are at least 120 of these vaults.
Jamie corstorphine is
a south bridge expert.
Narrator: For 30 years, the
vaults worked according to plan,
And commerce grew along the south bridge.
But the bridge was constructed
With cheap materials, and
soon the underground vaults
Turned into a nightmare
for the city's residents.
[ dripping ]
Bendle: And this wouldn't be
fresh rainwater we're talking about.
This would have been water
infused with horse droppings
From the bridge above,
And the content of those nasty buckets,
As they called him, the
slops buckets that people
Used to throw out the
window at night into the street.
Narrator: This raw sewage gradually
seeped and dripped through the bridge,
Creating stalactites of effluent.
The unsanitary
environment turned the vaults
Into a rat-infested, disease-ridden slum.
Because of these damp,
disgusting conditions, really,
Businesses quickly abandoned these vaults.
♪
Narrator: The vaults
quickly became a living space
For citizens who had fallen on hard times.
Desperately poor people
Would have taken shelter down here.
This was a time when people
were pouring into edinburgh
From the highlands, and from, of course,
The water in ireland.
So whole families of the poorest the poor
Would have lived down
here in appalling conditions.
And that continued right on till the 1860s.
Narrator: When the shopkeepers
and artisans moved out
Of the deplorable vaults,
Scotland's criminal
underbelly saw an opportunity
That was too good to pass up...
To establish their
illicit black market away
From the prying eyes of the law.
Corstorphine: The illegal trades decided,
You know, "why are we not using this space?
It's vast. It's dark. It's perfect."
And when the good guys moved out,
That's where the bad guys moved in.
And then the vaults were
used by gangs of thieves,
People running illegal whiskey stills,
Women pursuing the oldest profession.
Anything that was illegal above ground
Was perfectly legal within the confines of
The structure of the bridge.
There was no police here.
Narrator: Among these poor
families and petty thieves,
There operated the most
sinister criminals of them all.
And that's when these
vaults were handed over
To the criminal types...
The bootleggers and the body snatchers.
♪
♪
Narrator: In the 1830s,
edinburgh was renowned
For its medical schools.
And because of them, a
grisly new trade sprang up.
Enterprising criminals would
dig up newly buried corpses
From their graves and sell
them to the medical students
So they could study human anatomy.
If you could deliver a body
to a doctor in a good condition,
You could get perhaps ten pounds,
Which was a year's wages
for a laborer at the time.
They needed a constant
supply of human corpses
To keep dissecting them for their students.
And the law at the time
Said only the bodies of executed criminals
Could be legally dissected.
So you had the rise of body snatchers,
Grave robbers, or as they prefer
To call themselves, the resurrectionists.
♪
Narrator: To avoid the
risk of arrest by the police,
Body snatchers worked in the dead of night.
What grave robbers used
to do is strip the bodies
Of any shrouds or clothes
or any wedding rings
Because they feared that
they could be charged with theft.
That was a capital crime.
You'd hang for there.
But if you were caught
carrying a naked body around,
It was more of a kind
of weird new gray area.
You're more likely to be
charged with the lesser crime
Of desecrating a grave.
♪
Narrator: In the early 19th century,
The south bridge vaults were
apparently a hunting ground
For the infamous criminals
william burke and william hare.
They came from northern
ireland looking for work
And created an entirely new business
From the body snatchers.
They embraced the crime of
selling dead bodies for cash
And took it one step further.
♪
♪
Narrator: In edinburgh in the 19th century,
The south bridge vaults came
to be infamous hunting grounds
For criminals william
burke and william hare.
♪
Bendle: The curious thing
about burke and hare is
They were never scottish,
nor were they body snatchers
They came from the north
of ireland in search of work.
I suppose you could
say they were innovators.
They cut out the hard work
of digging up their bodies.
They just killed people
instead, sort of serial killers.
[ woman screams ]
Narrator: It is suspected the pair killed
16 people in 10 months,
Which resulted in burke's
execution and public dissection.
The growing ill repute
of the south bridge vaults
Was a burden the upstanding
citizens of edinburgh
Would no longer tolerate.
By the 1870s, the vaults were filled in
With construction
debris and lost to history.
♪
Despite norrie rowan's
Extensive clearing of the vaults,
There is still much to discover.
Narrator: To this day,
there is more to explore.
Norrie is taking jamie into
one of the deepest areas
Of the south bridge vaults
Because he needs an expert opinion.
Was through...
Narrator: It's an area which
norrie has dubbed "the well."
Narrator: This shaft
drops for at least 30 feet
And suggests a lower level that
no one has ever explored before.
'cause they were def...
There's no well.
♪
Narrator: While there are
still areas of the labyrinth
Waiting to be examined,
Most of the vaults have been given new life
Since norrie rediscovered
them 30 years ago.
Music venues, comedy
clubs, and even wine bars,
Paying homage to one of
the original uses of the vaults.
♪
They've gone and nicknamed it whiskey row.
In 1815,
One of the illegal illicit
distilleries was busted
In here... this basement here.
Narrator: Despite its past troubles,
Edinburgh's south bridge is
one of many great structures
That has transformed the city.
It is a brilliant piece of engineering.
Corstorphine: And its full extent...
I don't think we'll ever,
ever find out or comprehend
Just how massive this place really was.
Narrator: The underground
spaces created here
Gave the city's inhabitants
both shelter and suffering.
The reason why I find them
so interesting, these vaults,
Is simple as they look,
they're kind of like a window
Into the social history of edinburgh.
Narrator: The stories of these spaces
Still capture people's
imaginations to this day.
Well, I think it's great
that they're still being used
200 years after they were built
And they're still in use for something.
And they'll probably keep
reinventing themselves
As time goes on.
♪
Narrator: Finland... a scandinavian
country in northern europe
Between sweden, norway, and russia.
[ pinging ]
The capital, helsinki, is
now using relics of the past
To create incredible
underground worlds for its citizens.
♪
How have the ingenious finnish people
Transformed their cold war shelters
To give them a new
role in the 21st century?
We have over 900,000 shelter places.
More than we have citizens.
Narrator: And what surprising
uses have been found
For the disused emergency bunkers?
Woman: This is where the
magic more or less happens.
♪
♪
Narrator: Finland's capital,
helsinki, has been developing
An underground master
plan for the entire city,
Reusing older subterranean spaces
And creating new
facilities for the population.
What's amazing is the
full spectrum of needs
They've been able to meet underground.
Narrator: Geologist arend
oudman has been working
Since 2012 on the city's
soil and bedrock unit,
Developing some of helsinki's
Most important underground structures.
The city is built on granite,
which is found here in abundance
And makes excavating
large spaces underground
Relatively safe,
inexpensive, and sustainable.
♪
Narrator: Finland started to build
its underground worlds in the 1960s.
The country was neutral
during the cold war,
But because of its long russian
border and history of invasion,
They excavated hundreds
of underground bunkers
To shelter their citizens
in the event of an attack.
Andreas schneider is the head
of emergency preparedness
At helsinki city rescue department.
Narrator: He's responsible for
hundreds of cold war emergency bunkers
That are hiding in plain
sight all over the city.
Narrator: As cold war
tensions subsided in the 1990s,
It became important for the city
To find financially responsible ways
To maintain the spaces and
keep them a part of everyday life.
Combining community
facilities with defense capabilities
Became known as the
underground master plan.
Narrator: When originally designed,
No one could have
imagined the range of uses
These cold war bunkers
would eventually have.
There are over 400 separate
facilities around the city,
Some of which can be
transformed into civilian shelters
In 72 hours.
This one has been remarkably incorporated
Into the largest sports and
recreation facility in helsinki,
The itakeskus is swimming pool.
This subterranean space
has been transformed
To allow residents to
maintain an active lifestyle.
This is the... absolutely
the biggest one in finland.
About 1,000 people
visit this space every day.
Narrator: In a country
with brutally cold winters,
A swimming pool underground
has obvious benefits.
We are inside a rock, so
the heat are staying inside.
So we don't need to hear this place much.
So we are saving energy
because we are underground.
This swimming pool
works also as a civil shelter
For 3,800 people.
♪
Narrator: Divided over two levels,
It can provide safety, food,
and water for up to 14 days.
The shelter's capabilities
have been incorporated
Into the design of the facility,
Including the maintenance
floor below pool level.
Schneider: Constructed so
that we have at least 50 meters
Of the bedrock on top of us.
So then the doors will
take all the pressure.
Narrator: In the event of a nuclear attack,
There are two doors operated by hand.
The first takes the initial
impact from the air pressure,
Protecting the people inside the shelter.
The second is a two-inch-thick steel door
To prevent any radiation and
contaminated air from entering.
We have the doctrine of
defending the whole country
And defending all the civilians
And we have to protect them where they are.
That's why we operate it to protect people
Near where they are living or working.
♪
Narrator: Reusing
existing cold war shelters
Throughout helsinki is the
underground master plan.
Around two miles away
from the swimming pool
Is the formula center.
It's another bunker that's been given a new
And completely different purpose.
Narrator: Like all helsinki's
dual-purpose facilities,
The formula center can be rapidly
Switched into shelter mode
in the event of an emergency.
Narrator: The city has
provided its residents with spaces
To exercise and entertain.
That is just the beginning
of the creative reuses
For this underground world.
These excavated spaces
can meet more spiritual needs.
One of the city's
architectural masterpieces
Is the temppeliaukio church,
also known as the rock church,
Which is built directly into solid bedrock.
Woman: This is a church that
dates back to 1969, when it was built.
Narrator: Heli suhtala uvalic
Is an expert on the design
of this lutheran church,
Which burrows 43 feet
down into the granite below.
Uvalic: The architects, these two brothers,
Timo and tuomo suomaleinen,
Had been working for the army earlier.
So probably that's where they got the idea
From to build into solid rock.
They blasted their way into the bedrock,
Which is millions of years old,
And you can still see
the marks on the walls
Where they had been drilling and blasting.
They wanted to keep it that
way because they wanted people
To see that this is part of nature.
♪
Narrator: Beneath the stunning copper dome,
The rough hewn rock walls were left bare
On the advice of a
leading acoustics engineer
To enhance the space for musical
performance as well as worship.
Apart from being a
church, we also have around
400 concerts per year.
The acoustics here are fantastic
Because the surfaces aren't smooth at all.
Narrator: And like the rest
of the underground system,
This space has a dual purpose.
Uvalic: So in a time of crisis,
people could live down here
At least for a period of time.
Nowadays, we use this as a backstage area
For our orchestras and
choirs performing here.
♪
Narrator: Perhaps most
surprising of all the spaces
In the helsinki master plan
Is one that does the most public
good in a very unexpected way.
♪
Narrator: Finland's capital, helsinki,
Is reusing former world
war ii and cold war bunkers
For completely new and surprising uses.
65 feet beneath the bustling city streets,
The viikinmaki wastewater plant
Opened its sluice gates in 1994.
Narrator: It's the largest
sewage facility in northern europe
And processes on average
Nine and a half million cubic
feet of wastewater each day.
Narrator: The system is
capable of accommodating
Double its regular capacity,
Up to 25 million cubic feet of wastewater.
This is an important feature
For handling the country's severe winters
When they experience
sudden thaws of ice and snow.
But underground, this processing plant
Is protected from finland's
freezing temperatures.
Narrator: The plant is designed
to retrieve and recycle energy
And organic matter
For conversion into power and fertilizer.
The first stage involves
screening out large
Non-organic objects
which cannot be processed.
Narrator: Dentures, glasses, cell phones...
How they entered the
sewers is open to speculation.
Narrator: Once these large
non-biodegradable items
Are separated out by
standard mechanical cleaning,
Water flows through two
important stages of treatment.
The first involves a series
of parallel settling tanks
Which separate materials
That can be turned into compost and biogas.
Narrator: The process is
highly automated and optimized
To produce maximum results
with a low carbon footprint.
The wastewater left over
Is sent for a final
chemical treatment before
It is suitable to be released
back into mother nature.
Narrator: The viikinmaki
plant is so sophisticated
And handles such vast quantities of sewage,
It replaced twelve other treatment plants
Around helsinki.
When the wastewater is cleaned
here at the treatment plant,
After that it goes to the open sea,
And is mixed to a lot of
volume of the sea water.
The treatment results are world class here,
And when the treated
wastewater goes to the sea,
It does not have an
effect on the environment.
Narrator: The architects
and planners of helsinki
Have always designed
with their citizens in mind.
From protecting their lives
to protecting their well-being,
These subterranean spaces
meet a full range of needs.
And with many shelters now fulfilling
Dual roles for leisure,
The finns have the best of both worlds.