Places of Interest

Inside Türkiye’s Cave Churches: The Christian Heritage Hidden In Cappadocia

Beyond Cappadocia’s balloons and fairy chimneys lies a Byzantine world carved into volcanic rock. From Göreme’s frescoed sanctuaries to the churches of Ihlara and Soğanlı, these spaces preserve the region’s extraordinary Christian past

The Dark Church at Göreme Open-Air Museum is home to some of Cappadocia’s most breathtaking and remarkably preserved 11th-century wall paintings Photo: Instagram/artist
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The entrance is small enough to make you duck.

Inside, the light changes. The ochre walls give way to deep reds, faded blues, and the brown-black of centuries-old pigment. A figure emerges from the gloom: Christ, perhaps, or one of the apostles. Above him, another scene. Below, another. The ceiling is painted too, and the walls, and the curve of the apse. For a moment, the strange volcanic landscape outside seems very far away.

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