Cappadocia

Cappadocia Travel

During the early times of the spread of Christianity, the people who needed to hide from the Arab raids carved out these tough rocks thus constructing churches and built underground cities to defend themselves against the raids.

The settlements in Cappadocia had come into existence, mostly in the valleys of Goreme, Ihlara, and Soganli. The people who had settled here worshipped in the churches that they carved out of the rocks, and they dealt with agriculture to meet their own needs. The water sources in the valleys made this region productive. The most intensive settlement was in the vicinity of the township of Goreme. It is possible to see many churches together today in the locality made into an open-air museum.

Churches in Goreme

Let us begin discussing the churches in Cappadocia, by describing the churches in this open-air museum. In Goreme , at a distance of 7 km (4.3 miles) from Urgup, the first ancient structure that appears in front of us is the Maidens Monastery. The monastery, belonging to the first half of the 11th century and is an interesting building of six stores. The Chapel of St. Basil is situated on the opposite side of the promenade road in the museum. The Church with Apple , one of the most important churches in Goreme, appears in sight thereafter. The church, planned in the shape of a closed Greek cross, ends with three abscissas. The church belongs to the 12th century and the frescos in it display the scenes based on the contents of the Bible and also inspired by the Pentateuch. The Church of St. Barbara is situated beyond the Church with Apple. In this church which belongs to the first half of the 11th century and the descriptions of Pontacrator Christ, Georgios, Theodoros, and Saint Barbara are worthy of attention.

The Church with Snake , situated here, also belongs to the 11th century, and the scene of Deisis is displayed on its long wall. Descriptions of Saint Onesimus Georgios, Theodoros, Constantine, and Helena are seen here. On the rocky mass that heightens from the south of the open-air museum towards the west of it, there are monasteries grouped together and 8 churches, 7 dining halls, grave chambers, and wine factories. The church which is situated here has two stores and the frescos inside have been recently restored and fortified. The events included in the contents of the Bible and the Pentateuch are described in vivid colors in the frescos.

The Church with Sandals  is situated at the extreme north of the valley. The Church with Sandals belongs to the 12th century, has a dining hall under it, and their descriptions of the scenes from Christ’s life and from the Pentateuch inside the church.

The Church with Buckle  is located on the road to Goreme, is the largest church in Goreme. It consists of four sites namely: The Old Church, The New Great Church, The adjoining chapel, and the church underneath.

The Old Church forms the entrance of the New Church today, and it is decorated with descriptions that are dated to the 10th century and concern Christ’s life. The New Church which has a rectangular plan is decorated with descriptive scenes from Christ’s childhood adolescence and showing the sorrows of his life. This church is dated to the end of the 10th century. The annexed chapel and the church underneath, belong to the following period. At a distance of 300 m from the zone of the museum, there is the Church of Virgin Mary ; and the Church of El Nazar , belonging to the 10th century, and the Hidden Church is situated at the left-hand side on the way to the township of Goreme.

In addition to the Valley of Goreme, there are churches of importance in the Valley of Soganli too. Churches such as Karabas, Yilanli, Kubbeli, and Gok Kilise are situated in this valley which is at a distance of 30 km (18 miles) to Urgup.

Uchisar, Ortahisar

The missile-shaped fairy Chimneys within the Zemi Deresi near these churches, create very interesting scenery. There are many churches in the township of Goreme, such as Yusuf Koc, Durmus Kadir. While traveling in Goreme, the fortresses of Uchisar and Ortahisar suddenly appear in front of you as a magnificent sight. Here, the Valley of Guvercinlik is so beautiful that one doesn’t get tired of watching it.

Avanos, Urgup

Aktepe and the Valleys of Uchisar, Kiliclar, Uzundere are places that display very interesting sights. The Pink Valley, placed between Avanos and Urgup arouses interest by reason of its natural scenery. The Church of Cavusin, situated on the road of Avanos at a distance of 2 km to Goreme, is decorated with frescos belonging to the 11th century. One can walk from Cavusin to the Valleys of Gulludere and Kizilcukur. The 12 churches in this region can also be visited during this walk that will be a pleasant thing for you to remember. We come across interesting scenery in Bagli Deresi which extends towards Killik or Kaya Harmani in the north of Avanos-Goreme road and towards Uchisar in the south of it.

Zelve

The locality called Cinnes on the road to Zelve past Cavusin and the locality named Pasabagi or Kesisler Vadisi (Valley of Monks) are also worth seeing. Zelve is a region that extends towards the interiors of a hill called Aktepe where there are about 15 churches.

Underground Cities at Cappadocia

There are many underground cities in Cappadocia too. Within these soft rocks carved out as a means of defense against the enemy, interesting underground cities were formed, and all kinds of needs could be met in them.

The most important ones among them are the cities of Kaymakli , Derinkuyu, and Ozkonak and there are underground cities in many other places too.

Ihlara Valley

In the Valley of Ihlara which is arrived at by diverging from the Aksaray-Nevsehir road, there are 36 churches each one of which is more interesting than the other. When one descends the steps and reaches the valley at the end of the road, the Churches of Agacalti, Sumbullu, Kokar, and Yilanli can be seen in the Open Air Museum of Ihlara. The other churches of importance such as those of Egritas, Purenliseki, Karagedik, Kirkdamalti, Bahattin Samanligi, and Ala Kilise are also situated in this valley. The Church of Gumusler belonging to the 11th century and are located at a distance of 7 km (4.3 miles) to Nigde, is a church of interesting appearance. The Churches called Yuksek Kilise and Kizil Kilise which are located in Guzelyurt, are made of stone.

The region once contained the active volcanoes of Erciyes, the former mount Argeus, and Hasan Dagı. Various eruptions from these two volcanoes covered the surrounding region with tuff, a thick layer of mud and ashes. Lava spread over the tuff and wind erosion in the area has created the formations we now call the 'fairy chimneys' .Various geological changes such as the sinking of high plains have created valleys, like the Ihlara valley; others were formed the erosion of rain, snow and high winds. Valleys, such as Goreme and Soğanlı through which rivers flowed provided human being with many places of refuge over the centuries. People created shelter for themselves by hollowing out the soft tuff, even creating cities underground. Perhaps the large number of rock dwellings in this area was due to the lack of trees. The vast region once known as Cappadocia extends from the Taurus mountains in the south to Galatia in the north. Now we call the area within the tri- angle formed by Kayseri, Nevşehir and Niğde the 'land of the fairy chimneys'. The region has been the home of various peoples from the Stone Age onwards. During the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze age there are signs of habitation, as later during the Hittite, Phrygian, Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods and especially during the Byzantine period. The capital of the province was Caeserea, not far away from the modem city of Kayseri. During the 3rd century, we see an upsurge in Christianity in the region, when Caeserea became the religious centre. Bazileos, one of the patrician landowners of Caeserea, was also the bishop of the whole of Cappadocia. The monastic life had first been introduced in Egypt during the 3rd cen tury B.C. Bazileos, after becoming bishop, went to Egypt to study the daily practices of the monasteries and returned to Cappadocia to introduce there the monastic regime. Bazileos brought together these ideas in the hollowed out caves in Cappadocia, in the valley of Goreme .

These hollowed out sanctuaries later became an ideal method of defence against the attacks of the Arabs in 642 and after. The Arab raids caused the Christians to bury down underground to secure their position, forming whole cities below the earth. As Christians seeking refuge from other parts of the region flocked to join them, the population of the area swelled. By time the Byzantines were able to control the attacks of the Arabs, two hundred years later, the most important activity in the region had become the building of churches.

Churches built out of the rock were hollowed out to form typical Byzantine architectural shapes and were decorated with Byzantine paintings. During the first part of the 8th century, prayer to holy images had become a sort of cult, and one which neared idolism according to some opin- ions. The figure of Christ was portrayed in various ways, almost to the point of disrespect. This situation was continued during the period of the Empress Irene, but was finally taken under control by Constantine V, who forbade the worship of icons and restricted religious imagery to the cross, in the council held during his reign of 843, and had the churches and pictures damaged during previous years restored. These are churches that were built immediately after this time .

Churches built during the 11th century are said to be 'under the influence of Byzantine art', the Elmah Church, Karanlık Church and the Tokalı Church were all decorated according to the styles pre- vailing at that period. After the Seljuk defeat of the Byzantines in 1071, the Seljuk took over Anatolia, but left the inhabitants of Cappadocia free to practice. Later, during the Ottoman period, the area was to host celebrated Moslem mystics, such as Hacl Bektaş-l Veli, who were to influence the Christian inhabitants of the region. In fact, it is well known that there were Christians still inhabiting the region in the recent past. The Frenchman, Lucas, in 1705 passed through the region, an reported the existance of these rock churches for the first time in his travel diaries, but he was not believed. In 1813 Kinneir toured the region and in 1834, Charles Texier painted the rock churches as part of a series of views from Anatolia, introducing them for the first time to the west. Various other travellers referred to Cappadocia, including John Hamilton in 1837 and H.K. von Moltke in 1838. Finally, during the beginning of the 20th century, the German scientist H. Rott published his scientific study of the region, and in 1907, the Catholic friar, Guillaumede Jerphanion had his illustrations of all the churches in the region published. After the Second World War, in 1958, the Frenchman Nicole-Michel Thierry published many of the churches not mentioned in the previous study, and gave the region the scientific framework by which it is known today .

At a later date, the churches of the Ihlara Valley were introduced to the world by Thierry somewhat later than the churches of Goreme, whose closeness to Ürgüp had led to their earlier discovery. The Ihlara was known as Peristrema in ancient times.