Çanlı Kilise
Çanlı Kilise, named for the beautiful Byzantine church at right center (photo © Daniel C Browning Jr).

Today’s Pic Of The Day is of the eponymous church at the site Çanlı Kilise on the western edge of Cappadocia in modern Turkey. The site is one of the ubiquitous Byzantine period  settlement-monastery-church ruins in the region, noted for its unique geology and resulting topography.

Rock-carved chamber
On of the rock-carved chambers near the church at Çanlı Kilise (photo © Daniel C Browning Jr).

Çanlı Kilise is unusual in having such a well-preserved above-ground church structure in addition to the usual rock-carved, semi-subterranean chambers. The site also has many tunnels and rooms carved below the surface and used for defense (hiding) and other purposes—a feature known at other sites as “underground cities.”

David emerges
David Maltsberger emerging from a rather long access tunnel to an underground chamber with apparent graves (photo © Daniel C Browning Jr).

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