Christian Settlements of Cappadocia

Cappadocia was the home for some important people for the Christian faith but the most important of them all was St. Basil who lived in Caesarea, modern day Kayseri. St. Basil established the monastic life for Christians and for this reason one can see many monasteries formed in Cappadocia (given the time and will). One of the best preserved of these monasteries is the famed "Goreme Open Air Museum" where you can see paintings and frescoes from around 11th and 13th centuries AD. This is a monastery that was of great importance as one of the largest churches of the region is here: "Tokali (Buckle) Church".

Although Goreme is the best advertised monastery there are other important ones like Selime Monastery, Keslik Monastery and one which is very curious where a small settlement and the monastery existed right next to each other: "Zelve Monastery".

Cave churches of Cappadocia do not only exist in the monasteries. You can also find many of them hidden inside the valleys. (Soon to come a video on one of these churches named the "Columned Church").

Like all the other places in Cappadocia, churches are carved out of the rock formations as the rock tuff (or tufa) is very soft and can easily be chiseled out.

For anyone who is interested in Christian history or paintings, Cappadocia is a must see if you are in Turkey.