Destination List > Göreme National Park
Göreme National Park
Photo by Feridun F. Alkaya
The history...
Göreme Historical National Park is located in central Turkey. It occupies an area of nearly 100 km2 (39 sq mi).
It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 under the name Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia. The park features a rocky, water- and wind-eroded landscape with a network of ancient, interconnecting underground settlements.
People have made use of the soft tuff (rock made of volcanic ash) rock to hollow out underground dwellings. The earliest activity in Cappadocia is thought to have been in the fourth century when anchorites started carving out cells from the rock. In order to resist Arab marauders, they linked these cells and created underground communities, with chapels, store rooms and living quarters. Villages and small towns were developed in this way, and by 842, underground churches were being richly decorated with coloured paintings.
Today, people don't live far underground but some people still live in cave dwellings that have been made into homes, with a door/opening to daylight at ground level.
