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The Ellisons | all galleries >> Travel & Trips >> Turkey >> Turkey's Southwest > Kayaköy
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18-JAN-2012

Kayaköy

Turkey

Kayaköy is a village 8 km south of Fethiye in southwestern Turkey where Anatolian Greek speaking Christians lived until approximately 1923. The ghost town, now preserved as a museum village, consists of hundreds of rundown but still mostly intact Greek-style houses and churches which cover a small mountainside.

It was built on the site of the ancient city of Carmylessus in the 18th century. It experienced a renewal after nearby Fethiye (known as Makri) was devastated by an earthquake in 1856 and a major fire in 1885. After the Greco-Turkish War, Kayaköy was largely abandoned after a population exchange agreement was signed by the Turkish and Greek governments in 1923. Many of the buildings were damaged in the 1957 Fethiye earthquake.

A few houses have been restored, and are currently occupied.
However today Kayaköy village mainly serves as a museum and is a historical monument. Around 500 houses remain as ruins and are under the protection of the Turkish government, including two Greek Orthodox Churches, which remain the most important sights of the ghost town.

Kayaköy was adopted by the UNESCO as a World Friendship and Peace Village.

Nikon D200
1/400s f/11.0 at 35.0mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
Milan Vogrin17-Feb-2012 21:21
Nice photo!V!
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