Photos: Goreme Open Air Museum frescos Photo Gallery by Andrys Basten at pbase.com

Photos: Goreme Open Air Museum frescos

Photos from cave churches in Cappadocia - ~4th C to ~12th century
(another, earlier, cave church to be added later, and captions also).

The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) has frescos still in amazingly good condition,
as little light can get into that area from the tiny window that is off of it.

No flash was allowed, so these are long exposures without tripod, at iso400.

The still-vivid frescos are scenes from the New Testament and include Christ Pantocrator (from El Shaddai, or Jesus of Nazareth), Adoration of the Magi, First Bath, Last Supper, Betrayal of Judas, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
Per Wikipedia, this monastic compound was built in the 11th century, and for too long, it was used as a pigeon house until the 1950s. It took 14 years to scrape the pigeon droppings off the walls, and these are the best preserved in all of Cappadocia.

( For full Screen: If using a PC, press/toggle F11. If using a Mac, press/toggle apple/command-b )

Entrance to Goreme Open Air Museum's Karanlik (cave) Church in Cappadocia	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos
Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos
Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos
Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos	Goreme - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) frescos
A couple from Japan	First other Asians I'd seen in a week, in Turkey	Kept here until I can send photos	M and Cappadocia guide Semih

comment |

Andrys Basten		21-Jul-2012 10:09
Guest, thanks for making the time to write. What's ironic was that I took the pictures because we were on a tight schedule and didn't have enough time to really look at them enough while there! But they were definitely amazing, so I've done what you're doing :-)

Guest		20-Jul-2012 20:13
Fabulous photos of the Dark Church. Just got back from Turkey two weeks ago. The photos are almost better than the real thing because I have time to study them. Thanks!!!

Andrys Basten		23-May-2005 18:17
Hi, Michal42, I did mention the church but did not make it clear all the photos came from there. It's one church from the entire open air museum of cave churches - The Dark Church (Karanlik Church) Glad you enjoyed them, and thanks for letting me know.

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