PHOTOS FROM TURKEY DAY EIGHT (part 2)

The Byzantines carved hundred of churches into the rock of Cappadocia and sheltered themselves from the armies of the Abbasid Caliphate in enormous refuges descending hundreds of feet into the earth. Many of the churches are lavishly decorated with frescoes dating mostly from the 9th to 11tch centuries. Our first stop was the celebrated Goreme Open Air Museum, which was once a major center of monasticism. The finest of its frescoed churches are undoubtedly the Karanlik Kilise (the Dark Church), the Elmali Kilise (the Apple Church), and the Tokali Kilise (the church with a Buckle). The last named has frescoes painted by a certain Nikephoros in an exceptionally sophisticated, classicizing style.

Larry Hewett