Göreme Open Air Museum is one of the most special formations of Cappadocia. The region, since 1985, is a UNESCO World Heritage List as a natural and cultural asset. The Goreme Open Air Museum is a region where monastery life is intense from the fourth to the thirteenth century after the milestones.

Goreme Open Air Museum was established as a center of religious education and thought in the fourth century after the birth of Milestone by the bishop of Kayseri St. Basil, an important figure in the history of Christianity. The ideas of Saint Basil, who brought many innovations to Christianity, were first taught here. The monastery in the district lasted a thousand lives.

Places to be seen in Göreme

In the beginning parts of the valleys in the Cappadocian region, large rock blocks occur as a result of natural abrasion. The Göreme Open-Air Museum was established immediately at the beginning of such a villa, engraved in various rock blocks and used for various purposes. By transforming the region into a museum, the environment was arranged and the halls were made suitable.

There are approximately 360 carved churches in Cappadocia, with four sides surrounded by rocky carved churches. The best preserved Byzantine churches and frescoes in the Göreme Open Air Museum is the chief crown of the region.

1. Monastery for Girls and Boys

The so-called Monasteries for Girls and Boys or the Abbeys and Priests Monastery are immediately located at the entrance to the museum. In the Girls’ Monastery, which is a large seven-storey complex with a dining room, a kitchen, a chapel, a church, where girls are trained, the floors are connected to each other by tunnels. Only the first two times of the monastery are open in the hall.

The Monastery of Men is the school where male students are trained, just opposite the priestly monastery. The Monastery of Men is also a multi-storey building with similar parts to the Monastery of the Girls, but only the entrance floor is open in this area.

2. St. Basil Chapel

Aziz Basil Chapel is located at the entrance of Göreme Open House Museum. The tombs, which are usually built for a certain person and are smaller than the church, are also part of the tombs. The division at the entrance to the church and separated from the main section by columns is called Nartex. This chapel built in the name of Saint Basil has a graveyard where important people are buried in the narthex section separated by columns. The chapel, with a transverse cradle vault, a rectangular plan and three apses, is dated to the eleventh century. On the long left side of the rectangular nephrine is one large, two small, three apses. The scenes are; The main apsiste Jesus portraits, depicts St. George on the front of the Virgin Mary and child Jesus, the horse on the northern wall, the St. Theodore on the north wall, and the dragon on the horse again on the horse, depicts St. Demetrius and two masters.

3. Elmali Church

The Elmalı Church is a structure with nine domes, four columns, a closed cross, three apses. The main entrance can also be entered through the south-facing church through a tunnel opening from the north. The first adornments of the Elmalı Church, which is not too big but resembles a work of art due to its ornaments and ornaments, is the cross and geometric motifs made with direct wall red paint. This milestone, which dates back to the eleventh to twelfth centuries, is analogous to a sphere-shaped object held in the hands of a Mikail figure in the dome right in front of the main apse.

4. The Barbary Chapel

Azize Barbara is behind the rock block where the Chapel Elmalı Church is located. On the walls of the Azize Barbara chapel, which is the structure of the eleventh century after Milat, the geometric designs without human figurines were used even though it was after the Iconoclastic period. The chapel, cross-planned, two-columned, western, north and south crucifixes with cradle vault, central dome, eastern cross, and two corner spaces in the east are built in the name of the Egyptian Azize Barbara, who is considered a martyr for being killed by his father because of his Christian faith.

5. The Serpent Church

It is believed that the carving process has been halted, as it is believed that continuing in the case of a saint or minister during the construction of the Snake Church will bring bad luck. His residence is from the church of Saint Onophrius, which is depicted as a man with female breasts on the right wall of the entrance, and his name is Saint George. It was called the serpentine church because the figure of the green dragon on the wall of the church where the representation of Saint George, who fought the dragon, resembled the serpent.

6. Kitchen, cellar and dining hall

The kitchen and cellar sections are large enough to be cooked together. Side by side kitchen, cellar and dining hall structures are connected to each other. In the first place used as a pantry, there are holes to store food. In the last section, the dining room, on the left side of the entrance there is a table and table of stone for 40-50 people to eat. On the right side of the table, there is also a shrink to crush the grapes.

7. The Dark Church

The Dark Church is a church that has a sheltered entrance and can only be reached through a tunnel. The eleventh-century church, which has been destroyed by difficult transportation, is considered the best-preserved church of the Cappadocia region to date. Also, as the inside of the church receives a slight light from a very small window, the frescoes protect their vitality. The fact that the name of the Dark Church is already a little light.

8. Azize Catherine Chapel

Aziz is located between Catherine Chapel Dark Church and Çarıklı Church. It is believed to have been built by a Christian donor named Anna, a chapel dated to the eleventh century. Both the narthex and the naosu are built with the free cross plan, the chapel has a dome in the center. There are eleven tombs in Aziza Catherina, whose cross arms are cradle-vaulted, apse-temploned. The figures of the chapel pendants, shown only in the naos section, are embellished with embossed geometric figures. Scenes: Deesis, Gregory, Basil, John Chrysostom, St. George, St. Theodore, Aziz Catherine and other saint descriptions.

9. Çarıklı Church

Çarıklı Church, named Hz. It is from the footprints under the fresco that Jesus depicts the ascension of the chest. This church, with two columns and four domes, is cross-vaulted, with three apses and two columns. Similar to the Elmalı and the Dark Church, Çarıklı, Hz. It differs from the crucifixion and crucifixion of Jesus. The figures are large and long and the church is dated from twelve to thirteenth century.

10. Token Church

Tokalı Church, the church structure with the title of the greatest church of the region, just outside Göreme Open Air Museum. The token church, which has the maryem Ana fresco with the clearest beauty you will ever see, was built in the tenth century.

Your trip may take between 1.5 and 3 hours. With an entrance fee of 30 TL, Tokalı Church can visit this ticket even though it is outside of the museum. Only an additional entrance fee is charged for the Dark Church.