Göreme Open Air Museum

The Göreme valley was a monastic centre from at least the fourth century, and the museum is the core of it: a cluster of chapels, refectories, kitchens and living quarters cut into the soft tuff, with painted interiors spanning several centuries. The earlier decoration is simple - red ochre crosses and geometric patterns applied directly to the rock, some of it from the iconoclast period. The later work, from the tenth and eleventh centuries, is full Byzantine figural painting on plaster: the Tokalı, Elmalı, Çarıklı and Yılanlı churches all hold cycles of the life of Christ. The Karanlık Kilise, the Dark Church, is the reason for the extra ticket - its windows are so small that light barely entered, and the pigments survived accordingly, making its frescoes the most vivid in the region. The site is part of the UNESCO listing for Göreme and Cappadocia, and it is very busy from mid-morning.

History

In Byzantine times there were two neighbouring villages here, Korama, where the open-air museum now is, and Matiana, the modern village; both sent representatives to the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and a 6th-century Life of Saint Hieron, Göreme's patron saint, first mentions villagers living in cave houses. The simpler cave churches date from the 6th and 7th centuries and others from the 10th and 11th, when many of the frescoes were painted; people carved homes into the rock here from at least the 3rd century, a way of life that lasted into the early 21st century, and the village lies within Göreme National Park (Wikipedia, Göreme).

The main sights

• The Dark Church - the best-preserved frescoes, extra ticket.
• The painted chapels - Tokalı, Elmalı, Çarıklı and Yılanlı.
• The iconoclast decoration - red ochre crosses on bare rock.
• The monastic rooms - refectories and kitchens cut in tuff.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Arrive at opening - by mid-morning the coach groups fill the narrow chapel interiors and queues form at the Dark Church.

Good to know

Photography is prohibited inside several churches, including the Dark Church, and enforced. Interiors are small and become crowded quickly. Paths involve steps and slopes. The extra Dark Church ticket is worth it.

Nearby

Göreme village is a kilometre downhill; Çavuşin, Zelve and the Red and Rose valleys are close.