Göreme Open-Air Museum.                         

 

This Unesco World Heritage site is a must-see on any Cappadocia tour. 

This magnificent cluster of monastic Byzantine artistry with its rock-cut churches, 

chapels, and monasteries is 1km uphill from Göreme's centre and was thought to be 

a Byzantine monastic settlement that housed about 20 monks before becoming a 

pilgrimage site in the 17th century.

 

 Follow the cobbled path from the museum ticket booth to the 11th-century Chapel 

of St Basil, dedicated to Kayseri-born St Basil, one of Cappadocia's most important saints.
 

In the main room, St Basil is depicted on the left, with a Maltese cross and 

St George and St Theodore slaying a (faded) dragon, symbolising paganism. 

Mary is holding a baby Jesus with a cross in his halo to the right of the apse.

The Chapel of St Barbara is nearby.According to some art historians, Byzantine 

soldiers carved out this 11th-century church, which is dedicated to their patron 

saint, who is depicted on the left as you enter.Look up at the ceiling and notice the 

red ochre motifs; the middle one could represent the Ascension; the strange 

creature above the St George representation on the far wall could be a dragon, and 

the two crosses the beast's usual slayers.

The lane loops down past the Chapel of St Barbara to the columned and 

nine-domed Apple Church, which has well-preserved, colourful, professionally 

painted frescoes of biblical scenes as well as simple red-ochre daubs.Above the 

door, the Ascension is depicted, while Christ Pantocrator is depicted on the church's 

central dome.The name of the church is thought to be derived from a nearby apple 

tree or from a misinterpretation of the globe held by the Archangel Gabriel in the third dome.


As you continue uphill, you will arrive at the Snake Church, also known as the 

Church of St Onuphrius, where St George's ubiquitous dragon-foe is still having a bad day. 

To make matters worse, the church got its current name when locals mistook the 

depicted dragon for a snake.On the right is the hermetic hermaphrodite St 

Onuphrius, holding a genitalia-covering palm leaf.The small figure next to Jesus 

straight ahead is one of the church's financiers.

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A little further along the path are the small Pantocrator Chapel and Nameless 

Chapel (zimsiz apel) with their simple red-ochre geometric decorations and Maltese 

crosses, as well as a series of caves thought to have served as refectory and

 kitchen areas, with a rock-cut table in one cavern.Head up the tunnel at the highest point of 

the path to the stunning, fresco-filled Dark Church, the most famous of the  

museum's churches.It got its name from the fact that it used to have very few windows.
 

 

Fortunately, the lack of light preserved the vibrant colours of the frescoes, which 

depict Christ Pantocrator, the Nativity, the Transfiguration, the Betrayal by Judas, 

and the Crucifixion.The church was extensively restored, and the entrance fee is 

intended to limit visitor numbers in order to preserve the frescoes.

The little Chapel of St Catherine, just past the Dark Church, contains frescoes of St 

George, St Catherine, and the Deesis (a seated Christ flanked by the Virgin and John the Baptist).

On the way downhill, the 13th-century Sandal Church is named after the footprints 

left in the floor by Jesus before he ascended to heaven.The frescoes aren't as well 

preserved here, but the colours are still vibrant.The four gospel writers are depicted 

beneath the central dome, and Judas' betrayal is depicted in the arch over the door to the left.

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