The fresco of Jesus Christ ("Pantokrator") in the rock cut Karanlik Kilise ("Dark Church"), Goreme, Nevsehir, Cappadocia, Turkey
Once you get to Cappadocia, you 'll have to visit the Goreme Open Air Museum. You can see about a dozen of old churches and monasteries, dating back from the byzantine era. All churches are carved inside caves, so there are no walls or doors or domes the way we know them, no straight lines or perfect symmetry, even the columns are carved, and that's exactly what makes them so impressive. You can also see some nice frescoes from different periods of Byzantine art, others in good, others in bad condition. You can see all of them paying a ticket at the entrance of the open air museum. All? All, except this one, the Karanlik Kilise, the "Dark Church", constructed (that means, carved) around the 11th century. For this one you'll have to pay extra ticket, but it's worth it, because it has the best preserved frescoes. It is called "dark", because it really is dark, deep inside a cave, even its entrance is well hidden. It was the almost complete absence of light, that helped the preservation of the frescoes.
Size: 5467px × 3748px
Location: Goreme Open Air Museum (National Park), Nevsehir, Cappadocia, Anatolia, Turkey
Photo credit: © Hercules Milas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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