Zelve Açik Hava Müzesi (Zelve Open-Air Museum)

Zelve Açik Hava Müzesi (Zelve Open-Air Museum) Review

Although the prizes at Göreme are the fresco-decorated churches, the outdoor museum at Zelve provides a fascinating look at how people lived in fairy-chimney communities. Zelve was a center of Christian monastic life in the 9th through 13th centuries, and the town was inhabited until the early 1950s, when erosion and cracking began causing slabs of rock to fall and villagers were moved out of the hundreds of cave dwellings. The site is only about 2,145 feet long, but there's plenty to explore. The valley is made up of several uneven, naturally carved rows of fairy chimneys. These and just about every spare rock face shelter hundreds of dwellings that vary in size—some are just simple cavelike openings and others are multistory houses with rooms on several floors linked by stairs carved deep inside the rocks. There's also a rock-cut mosque and several small churches. Some of the structures have collapsed already, and giant pieces of carved ceiling lie upside down on the ground. Be prepared to climb around, and definitely bring a flashlight or you won't be able to explore some of the most interesting and extensive dwellings. You can probably see the whole place in a little over an hour, but you could easily spend more time here.