Öşki Monastery

The Tortum and Oltu valleys north of Erzurum were the heartland of Tao-Klarjeti, the medieval Georgian principality, and they hold a series of large stone churches built between the ninth and eleventh centuries - Öşki, İşhan, Haho, Bana - of which Öşki is the largest and most impressive. Built in the 960s and 970s, it is a triconch cathedral of dressed stone standing to near full height, roofless over the nave but with its dome piers, arcades and much of its carving intact: relief figures of the founders, archangels, animals and vegetal ornament around the doorways and windows, executed at a quality that ranks with anything of its period in the Caucasus. Parts have collapsed and the structure is fragile; restoration has been discussed, begun and criticised in turn, and the churches of this group sit on Turkey's UNESCO tentative list. The building stands in a working village among orchards, unfenced and unattended, with goats in the nave as often as visitors.

What you actually see

• The triconch cathedral - standing to near full height.
• The relief carving - founders, archangels and ornament.
• The open nave - roofless, with the piers still up.
• The village setting - orchards and houses around it.

When to go

May to October; the valley roads are difficult in winter snow. Mornings for light into the open nave.

Honest expectations

The structure is unconsolidated and parts are unstable - it is a ruin in a village, not a managed site. There is no ticket, guide or interpretation. A car is essential and the side road is rough.

Nearby

Tortum waterfall and lake are in the same valley; İşhan and Haho churches are within an hour or two.