| | | Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve
Rock-cut churches - Fairy chimneys (Hoodoos)
UNESCO World Heritage Site : 1985
Cappadocia (Turkey)
| | | Göreme (Greek : Κόραμα, Korama), located among the "fairy chimney" rock formations, is a town in Cappadocia, a historical region of Turkey. It is in the Nevşehir Province in Central Anatolia and has a population of around 2,500 people.
Former names of the town have been Korama, Matiana, Maccan or Machan, and Avcilar. When Göreme Valley nearby was designated an important tourist destination, a "center" for all tourism in Cappadocia, the name of the town was changed to Göreme for practical reasons.
The Göreme National Park (Göreme Milli Parklar in Turkish) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.
The location of Göreme was first settled back in the Roman period. Christianity was then the prevailing religion in the region, which is evident from many rock churches that can still be seen today.
Among Göreme's historically important sites are Ortahane, Durmus Kadir, Yusuf Koc and Bezirhane churches, in addition to the richly decorated Tokali Kilise, the Apple Church, and a number of homes and pigeon houses carved straight into the rock formations in the town. | | Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : Virtual tour |  | 23 sections and 100 items |
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Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : Building(s) (2)
Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : Church(es) (13)
|  | Elmali Church (5)
Apple Church
Göreme open air museum
approx. between 1080 and 1120
This church, featuring four columns, nine domes and three apses, is of the closed cruciform type. Access to the church is through a tunnel on the north side. The original entrance was on the south side.
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|  | Zelve Monastery (13)
Zelve
between the IXth and the XIIIrd century
Zelve is one of the most fantastic sites in Cappadocia : a natural amphitheatre at the junction of four converging ravines with a dense concentration of dwellings hollowed out of rock.
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Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : Place(s) (7)
| Derinkuyu Underground City
Derinkuyu
near VIIIth century B.C.
Derinkuyu, located in Cappadocia, is notable for its large multi-level underground city, which is a major tourist attraction. The historical region of Cappadocia, where Derinkuyu is situated, contains several historical underground cities, carved out of a unique geological formation, and were largely used by early Christians as hiding places.
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| Fairy chimneys in Cappadocia
Göreme
The uniqueness of Cappadocia was formed by the eruption of Mt. Erciyes and Mt. Hassan, circa 60 million years ago that spread a thick layer volcanic ash over the area.
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| Ihlara Valley (9)
Ihlara
Ihlara is situated at about 40 km (25 mi) Aksaray and near the town of Güzelyurt. The township is famed for the nearby valley of the same name, Ihlara Valley, which is a 14 km long gorge cut into volcanic rock in the southern part of Cappadocia, following several eruptions of Mount Erciyes.
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|  | Kaymakli Underground City
Kaymakli
Kaymakli Underground City is contained within the citadel of Kaymakli in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. First opened to tourists in 1964, the village is about 19km from Nevşehir, on the Nevşehir-Niğde road. The ancient name was Enegup.
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| | Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : Description | |
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Tokalı Kilise
Tokalı Kilise (or the Church of the Buckle), is the largest church in Göreme. Restoration of the church was completed during the 1980s.
One noted feature of the church is the main nave containing ninth century frescoes in "provincial" style, the more recent additions are three apses of the 11th century frescoes, which are rendered in "metropolitan" style. The church contains frescoes of the twelve apostles, the saints and scenes from the life of Jesus (963-969 and 11th century respectively). The church also has a crypt underneath the nave. The Buckle Church is formed of four chambers: the Old Church, the larger New Church, the Paracclesion, and the Lower Church. The Old Church dates to the 10th century. It was originally a single-naved barrel-vaulted church. But its apse was destroyed when the New Church was added at the end of the 10th or early 11th century. Now the Old Church provides entrance to the New Church. The Old Church is decorated with pale hues of red and green painted in strips to represent scenes from the New Testament and depictions of some saints. Panels of rich indigo painted with pigments from the lapis lazuli stone dominate the New Church : scenes from the New Testament, miracles of Christ, the first deacons, episodes from the life of St. Basil (one of the Cappadocian Fathers), depictions of Leades (one of the Forty Martyrs) and St. Menas. The New Church was carved out of the eastern wall of the Old Church and decorated with Eastern-style arches and a series of arcades. The Paracclesion, located at the left side of the New Church, is a barrel-vaulted chapel with a single apse. The Lower Church has three aisles and a burial space or krypto.
Elmalı Kilise
Elmalı Kilise (or the Apple Church) a smaller cave church. Was built around 1050AD and has carved into four irregular pillars the sign of a Greek cross with these pillars support it's central dome. Restoration on the church was completed in 1991, but the frescoes continue to chip off, revealing a layer of earlier paintings underneath. The church's paintings depict scenes of the saints, bishops, and martyrs. and to the right of the altar, a Last Supper with the symbolic fish (the letters of the word fish in Greek, ΙΧΘΥΣ, stand for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Savior"). The name of the church is believed to refer to a reddish orb in the left hand of the Archangel Michael in the dome of the main apse, or possibly to an apple tree that grew in the vicinity.
Azize Barbara Kilisesi
Azize Barbara Kilisesi, (or the Church of Saint Barbara) Barbara was an Egyptian martyr who was imprisoned by her father in order to protect her from the influences of Christianity. Barbara nevertheless found a way to practice her faith and her father tortured and killed her.
Built in the late 11th Century, the church was possibly built as a tribute to the Martyr-Saint. The church has the same layout as Çarikli Kilise. The church has a cross-dome with one central apse, two side apses and two columns. The dome depicts Christ on the Throne, with geometrical patterns painted in red ochre, painted directly on the rock, believed to be symbolic in nature. Another fresco with the large locust possibly representing evil, which is warded off by the protection of two adjacent crosses. The north wall of the church contains a fresco of St. George and St Theodore on horse-back struggling against the dragon and snake. The monks drew red ochre lines on the rocks, to give the impression that cut stones were used in the construction.
Yilanlı Kilise
Yilanlı Kilise(or the Snake Church) is a simple barrel-vaulted church with a low ceiling and long nave. It is name for the frescoe of Saints Theodore and St George slaying the dragon (or snake as depicted in the frescoe). The church also has a frescoe of Emperor Constantine and his mother Saint Helena depicted holding the "True Cross." Legend has it that she discovered the cross upon which Jesus was crucified after seeing it in a dream, and that a piece of the cross is still buried in the foundations of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Other sections of the cross are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and in St. Peter's in Rome. Another interesting portrait is the one of Saint Onuphrius on the upper wall to the right of the entrance. The saint, lived the life of a hermit in the Egyptian desert near Thebes, Egypt and is usually depicted with a long gray beard wearing only a fig leaf.
Karanlık Kilise
Karanlık Kilise (or the Dark Church) was a monastic compound built in the 11th century. It is a domed church with one main apse, two small apses and four columns. It was decorated with scenes from the New Testament: Christ Pantocrator, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, First Bath, Last Supper, Betrayal of Judas, Crucifixion, Anastasis.
After the Turkish invasion it was used as a pigeon house until 1950s. After 14 years of scraping pigeon droppings off the walls, these newly restored frescoes, depicting scenes from the New Testament, are the best preserved in all of Cappadocia and a fine example of 11th-century Byzantine art. Part of the narthex or vestibule however collapsed opening part of the church's roof to the sky. This caused damage to the fresco with Christ's Ascension and the Benediction of the Saints, whereas the other scenes are only partially remain where the wall collapsed. The church's name possibly comes from a small oculus looking out of the narthex which only lets in a very small amount of light. This feature is what has preserved the richness of the pigments and allowed them survived the test of time.
Çarıklı Kilise
Çarıklı Kilise (the Church with Sandals) the name comes from the two footprints at the bottom of the Ascension fresco at the church's entrance (this fresco is said to be an exact copy of the one contained at the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem). The church is cut into the same rock as Karanlik Kilise. The footprints themselves, have many unconfirmable legends attached to them. The church is carved into a cross floor plan with intersecting vaults. The church's frescoes, which date to the 11th century, contain the four Evangelists, the Nativity and the Crucifixion, the Baptism, the Adoration of the Magi, and other New Testament themes.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_G%C3%B6reme,_Turkey
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License | | Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : History | |
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After the eruption of Mount Erciyes about 2000 years ago, ash and lava formed soft rocks in the Cappadocia Region, covering a region of about 20,000 km2. The softer rock was eroded by wind and water, leaving the hard cap rock on top of pillars, forming the present-day fairy chimneys. People of Göreme, at the heart of the Cappadocia Region, realized that these soft rocks could be easily carved out to form houses, churches, monasteries. These Christian sanctuaries contain many examples of Byzantine art from the post-iconoclastic period. These frescoes are a unique artistic achievement from this period.
By the end of the 2nd century a large Christian community had formed in Cappadocia. It is known that there were two bishoprics at that time, one in Kayseri, which, for a long time, continued to be a Christian centre in the region and the other in Malatya.
In the 3th century, priests with good character changed the region into a lively centre of Christian activity. In the 4th century Cappadocia became known as the land of the three saints : St. Basil the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. George of Nazianzus. These three men created a new unity in Christian thought, and many of St. Basil's thoughts and actions are still important today. An example of his doctrine is the advice to Christian with one piece of bread in a famine. He said that the Christians should give half of the bread to a fellow believer and trust in God to take care of him. St. Basil founded small, secluded settlements not too far away from villages and towns. Daily worship was carried out under the supervision of a preacher. These groups were not; however, privileged groups separated from the community like similar communities in Egypt and Syria. St. Basil is important in that he introduced worship within the community. He was not at all bigoted.
Goreme Open Air Museum is the place where this kind of religious education was started. The same model was then introduced in Soganli, Ihlara and Açiksaray. | | Cappadocia : Göreme - Selime - Zelve : More pictures | |
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