Beneath Cappadocia's crumbling surface, a marvel of equally gargantuan proportions lay hidden away for centuries; a subterranean city that could conceal the whereabouts of up to 20,000 inhabitants for months at a time. The ancient city of Elengubu, known today as Derinkuyu, burrows more than 85m below the Earth's surface, encompassing 18 levels of tunnels. The largest excavated underground city in the world, it was in near-constant use for thousands of years, changing hands from the Phrygians to the Persians to the Christians of the Byzantine Era.

It was finally abandoned in the 1920s by the Cappadocian Greeks when they faced defeat during the Greco-Turkish war and fled abruptly en masse to Greece. Not only do its cave-like rooms stretch on for hundreds of miles, but it's thought the more than 200 small, separate underground cities that have also been discovered in the region may be connected to these tunnels, creating a massive subterranean network. At the moment, 600 entrances have been found within private homes leading to the subterrestrial city of Derinkuyu.


An ambery and spicy fragrance by Gael Montero. Saffron is the keystone of this composition, magnified by the petally softness of the flowers as well as creamy woods and resins.

Ingredients: Saffron, Sandalwood oil, Myrrh resinoid; Jasmine absolute, Orris butter, Rose absolute, Mahonial, Olibanum oil, Benzoin resinoid, Vanilla absolute, Nirvalonide


FOCUS ON SAFFRON
Saffron's typical intense aroma is spicy, aromatic, woody and phenolic.
Harvesting the flowers and separating the stigmas and stamens from the petals. The flowers, which begin to grow in mid- October, are picked by groups, usually made up of women, then placed in their aprons or baskets and taken home in baskets.
This laborious work, which requires a certain amount of skill, takes place from sunrise to sunset and lasts 20 to 25 days.

ARTISTIC COLLAB
Alexandre Lamarche and Florentine Ovize & Carine Soyer