The Dark Church Churches

The Dark Church

A narrow stairway leads to the front of the church with barrel ­vault. it leads to the main church entrance with four pillars. it is a basilica planned-church (cross-in-square church) with two side apses and transverse vault. Since very little light comes in from the nartex, it owns the best preserved frescoes among the churches in Göreme.

It is estimated that the church is of the 13th century. The last evidences of iconoclastic period have been destroyed. The paintings have been distributed randomly without a chronological order. They are mostly about the scenes representing the holy days in Christ's life. The subjects of the frescoes in the church are: The Nativity, the Gifts, the Baptism, the Raising of Lazarus, the Flight into Egypt, the Last Supper, the Betrayal, Mary in the Cemetery, the Ascension, the Transfiguration, and apart from these scenes ab out Christ's life, the figures of the Magi, writing down the Bible, the portraits of the faces of the Apostles, and the ones writing the Bible.

There is a wonderful portrait of Christ on the inner part of the dome in front of the apse.

One can realize that the painters who were monks have tried to give meaning, sense and liveliness to the paintings by faces, movements and landscapes. The colors are dark because of the light and dull because of the mortar.

Moreover, the ornaments on the capitals and friezes are the motifs which are used very widely in designing the carpets in the region.

*This church is closed for visitors for ten years.