Göreme

Göreme National Park - Göreme Open-Air Museum

Useful Information

Location:	Around the village Göreme, east of Nevsehir. The Göreme Open-Air Museum is located to the south at the road to Uchisar. (38°38'23.48"N, 34°49'3.42"E)
Open:	OCT-FEB Tue-Sun 8-17, MAR-SEP Tue-Sun 8-19.
Fee:	Adults TL 5,000,000, Children (0-18) TL 2,200,000, Disabled free.
Classification:	Cave House
Light:	not necessary/electric/bring torch.
Dimension:	Ar=95,76 km².
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Nevsehir Directorate of Tourism, Atatürk Bulvari 14, Devlet Hastanesi Önü, Nevsehir, Tel: +90-384-213-3659, Fax: +90-384-213-1137.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

4th century	first caves dug.
1100	Yilanli church and Barbara church built.
1200	Çarikli church built.
1984	inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
1986	dedicated a National Historic Park.

Description

Göreme is the most famous cave city of Cappadoccia. It has been declared a National Park and is on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. A huge number of caves can be visited in the Goreme Open-Air Museum, including eleven refectories with tables and benches and each with an associated church. There monasteries were built underground between the 10th and 12th century to be hidden from the pursuing Arab invaders. Many churches have impressive frescoes.

Göreme Milli Parklar (Göreme National Park) has a size of 95.76 km² and is covered with volvcanic ashes, forming layers of soft tufa. In this area a harder layer of lava covers a softer layer of tufa. Erosion cut through the hard layer and had little problems to remove the soft rocks very fast. Only where some remains of the resistant rock still covers the tufa, it still exists and forms pillars, towers and needles. The height of those rock pillars, called fairy chimneys, may be up to 40 m. The valley is also called Valley of the Fairy Chimneys.

The soft tufa is very good for building housings inside, just by removing the rock with a pickaxe. The longest underground structure at the musem is 1,325 m long.

Göreme has become a synonym for the caves of the area, nevertheless it is only a small part. The town of Göreme has an open-air museum where many preserved houses and churches can be visited.