History

Christians began settling in the remote valleys of Cappadocia in the 4th century AD, during the same period that the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus) were formulating the theology that would define Eastern Christianity. The volcanic tuff of the region is soft enough to carve by hand but hardens on exposure to air — ideal for creating monastic cells, churches, and underground refuges. Communities of monks carved hundreds of churches across the valleys, painting them with elaborate fresco programmes that followed the standard Byzantine liturgical scheme: Christ Pantocrator in the dome, scenes from the Life of Christ on the walls, and hierarchies of saints in the lower zones.

The Göreme valley was a major monastic centre during the Byzantine period, sustained by agricultural communities in the valley below. After the Seljuk and later Ottoman conquest, the Greek Orthodox communities survived as a recognised religious minority, continuing to use and maintain the churches. The Turkish-Greek population exchange of 1923, mandated by the Treaty of Lausanne, forced the remaining Orthodox community to leave for Greece, ending unbroken Christian habitation of over 1,500 years. Many of the rock churches were subsequently used as pigeon houses by local farmers — a use that paradoxically helped preserve the frescoes: pigeon droppings created an ammonia-rich atmosphere that inhibited the fungi that destroy organic pigments.