Story
The story of Göreme National Park
The fairy chimneys of Göreme began as lava, ash and tuff hurled out by Hasan Dağı, Erciyes and Güllüdağ, later worn by wind and water into today's valleys and pinnacles. Because the soft rock was so easy to carve, people moved in. From the 4th century BC to the 13th century AD the area hosted an intense monastic life; in the 4th century Basil the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, came here and started the hermit tradition.
Between the 7th and 13th centuries Christians fleeing Arab raids and persecution cut monasteries and churches into the rock, and after Iconoclasm ended (after AD 842) they covered them with frescoes of Bible scenes. At the open-air museum, look left at the entrance for the 6-7 storey Nunnery, then seek out the Apple, Snake, Dark and Sandal churches. Tokalı Church sits about 50 metres below the entrance.
The site joined UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1985.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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