Tokalı Church (Church of the Buckle) - Müze Cd. 36/1

What a wonderful historical place to be. Just magnificent!

Absolutely destructive restoration of a holy and historical site. This does not follow world UNESCO standards. History is lost forever. Shame on this common practice in Turkey.

indimenticabile.....Tokalı Kilise (or the Church of the Buckle), is the largest church in Göreme. Restoration of the church was completed during the 1980s. One noted feature of the church is the main nave containing ninth century frescoes in "provincial" style, the more recent additions are three apses of the 11th-century frescoes, which are rendered in "metropolitan" style. The church contains frescoes of the twelve apostles, the saints and scenes from the life of Jesus. The church also has a crypt underneath the nave. The Buckle Church is formed of four chambers: the Old Church, the larger New Church, the Paracclesion, and the Lower Church. The Old Church dates to the 10th century. It was originally a single-naved barrel-vaulted church. But its apse was destroyed when the New Church was added at the end of the 10th or early 11th century. Now the Old Church provides entrance to the New Church. The Old Church is decorated with pale hues of red and green painted in strips to represent scenes from the New Testament and depictions of some saints. Panels of rich indigo painted with pigments from the lapis lazuli stone dominate the New Church : scenes from the New Testament, miracles of Christ, the first deacons, episodes from the life of St. Basil (one of the Cappadocian Fathers), depictions of Leades (one of the Forty Martyrs) and St. Menas. The New Church was carved out of the eastern wall of the Old Church and decorated with Eastern-style arches and a series of arcades. The Paracclesion, located at the left side of the New Church, is a barrel-vaulted chapel with a single apse. The Lower Church has three aisles and a burial space or krypto.(wikipedia)

This church located just outside of the Goreme Open Air Museum and is a part of Goreme National Park. The inner walls are filled with paintings. The entry to the church is included in the Open Air Museum ticket.

Part of open Air museum. A world heritage site. Glad we visited here. It's a must visit place if you are covering goreme in your travel plan.

Apparently this is the largest church in Goreme. You can visit here with the tickets for Goreme Open Air Museum as well. The staff is very strict about taking photos. I was marveled by how well-preserved the paintings and frescos are! Many battle scenes from history and many scenes from the holy book are depicted on the walls of this ancient scared structure.

Historical church with striking blue color ceiling made of lapis lazuli from Badakhshan. Unfortunately they don't allow taking photographs inside.

The Tokali Church is carved in a huge rock just across the Goreme open air museum parking lot. Entry to this Church is FREE, you do NOT need to have the museum ticket. The Church is very small, but with stunning blue frescoes in it. It's a 5 min visit