Göreme National Park, Cappadocia (with Map & Photos)

Goreme National Park is located in central Turkey, on the territory of Nevsehir silt, which occupies most of the historical region of Cappadocia. On an area of ​​9572 hectares, there are numerous tuff formations with early Christian churches, monastic cloisters, refectory, residential and utility rooms carved into them. Most travelers visiting Cappadocia tend to see this natural and man-made attraction in the first place. The open air museum is one of the most unusual and popular tourist destinations in the world.

Goreme National Park
Goreme National Park

Goreme Park is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List by several criteria at once. The unique forms of a picturesque natural landscape, multi-level rock settlements, sanctuaries with preserved ancient paintings, evidence of a disappeared local civilization, cultural and historical values ​​are taken into account. The closest towns - Goreme, Ortahisar, Urgup, Chavushin, in which people lived until 1953, and Mustafapasha, located in the distance, fell under the special control of UNESCO.

Goreme National Park
Goreme National Park

Göreme or Goreme is the name of a series of valleys, and of a population of this valley, in the Cappadocia region in central Anatolia. It is located 12 km east of Nevsehir. Settlements in the area began in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when Christians from the Roman period founded various monasteries. Like most of the constructions in Cappadocia, these were not buildings, but sites carved out of the rock, in the form of artificial caves. There are still remains of monuments, chapels, bedrooms, warehouses and churches, many of them decorated with frescoes from the 11th and 12th centuries.

Goreme National Park
Goreme National Park

The Open Air Museum resembles a monastic complex made up of dozens of monasteries placed side by side, each with its own church. It is located right in the center of the region, with easy access from all directions. Just a 15 minute walk (1.5 km, 1 mile) from the village of Goreme. There you can see: the monastery of nuns (Rahibeler manastırı ) is a monastic complex of four levels, with vestiges of four churches inside, the dark church, the church of the serpent (Yılanlı kilise), it has frescoes of Saint George and the dragon and the apple church (Elmalı kilise) with an impressive collection of frescoes.

Goreme National Park Map