One of the values left in the corner of a priceless geography such as Cappadocia is the Tavsanli Church. You may need a guide to see this church near Ibrahimpasa Village, 3 kilometers from the town of Urgup in Nevsehir. Because even if there’s a route marked on your map, the church is hidden in a way that won’t appear. And his name is the analogy of an animal depicted in a fraction of the rabbit.

When heading towards the Tavsanli Church, the village road will see caves carved from the rock inhabited by monks, facing living spaces, and taking pictures in this panoramic area.

The inscription on the history of the Tavsanli Church is 10. Century, Byzantine period, and during this period Emperor VII. Constantine’s time. The architecture of the church was made as a basilica planned and single-stage. The Sahan sits on the narrow cornice and is covered with a crib tonosis. The walls of the church were made quite long; The northern walls were measured in 5.20 cm, the west wall was 3.65 cm and the east wall was 4.20 cm. You can see this church with our Cappadocia tours. In the southern and northern walls, approximately 100 cm wide and 25 cm deep, the triangle is aligned with the three niches. The church’s apse is a horseshoe-shaped 2×2-meter wide and deep-planned. The walls were made of half a circle and rectangular niches with a height of 60 cm from the ground. These niches, which are not observed in other churches, are believed to be used during religious ceremonies.

What makes the church special is the freaks inside. Unfortunately, these coloring pages remain in the bottom of the walls and the remains of the wall. The painting in half of the apse dome shows that the church is adorned with two kinds of decorations. Geometric patterns were made with red stem paint on the stone, which is the vault surface of the apsicin. 2-Days Cappadocia tour from Istanbul is the best option for travelers who want to visit Cappadocia. This painted stone is the oldest layer of the surface and therefore is believed to have been used since the first period of the church. The upper layer is adorned with painted depictions on plaster. The interior of the tonosis is painted iconographic with abundant tassas telling long stories, separated into rectangular borders. These depictions consist of saints ‘ paintings, religious scenes, and crosses, usually seen in all Cappadocia churches.

We strongly recommend that you see the Church of Tavanli as it is the mystical atmosphere of the region and each of them has a distinct legend.

We wanted to reach Nevsehir by alternative route after we left High Church. As we were thinking the options we have we saw Narligol on the map. Even we planned the locations we are going to go we still searched Narli lake on Wikipedia. As a result of this searching, we were there early morning. After we saw Narligol hotels options. If we did not plan we would definitely choose one of these hotels.

Information about Narli Lake

Narligol is a famous for crater lake, it has no many visitors. Narligol has hot springs. When looking from outside Narligol seems like that its purpose to serve people by its new road and opened to tourism. I can say that it is too hard to comment because we do not have too much information. At the same time, it can be hard to choose hotels in Narligol.

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WHERE IS NARLI GOL IN?

It is very hard to answer this question without searching. But when we look at generally  Narligol is located between Nevsehir-Aksaray. You encounter Nevsehir provincial border signboard if you go toward Derinkuyu direction after you left Aksaray. Then we can say that Narligol is in Aksaray border.

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HOW CAN I GO TO NARLIGOL?

How many kilometers between Aksaray-Narligol: As you go from Gulagac to Derinkuyu direction you have to turn right 10 km later.

If you come from Nevsehir direction we can say it is 20-25 km far away from Derinkuyu city center. Generally, we can say that Narligol is a small thermal spring. There are several thermal hotels around.

In the near future, new hotels can be opened depending on the touristic activities.

At the same time, Narligol is a recreation area. Families prefer this location to have a picnic. By its hot foamy water and nice view, it is the location to be visited.

We can use the term “11th century Cap­padocian Art” interchangeably with Byzan­tine art. 25% of the existing churches have paintings of this style. Monasticism was spreading fast in the 11th century. Some of the paintings were made by master pain­ters according to the wishes of some rich officials of the Empire. There are a lot of differences between the work of this age and the previous one. The architecture was mostly on a cross plan and decorative style had changed considerably. By joining our Cappadocia Tours, you can see the most important arts in Cappadocia.

Some churches like Direkli Kilise in Belisirma (976-1025) are decorated only with the figures of the Holy People. In this church, the walls, columns, and lapses are full of such paintings. In the entrance St. Anne, Mary and Infant Jesus are seen together. On one of the apse arches, Jesus is repre­sented as the Pontacrator. In the three well preserved “Columned Churches of Göreme” (Elmalı, Karanlık, Çarıklı) Christ is always seen at the central dome with Seraphim and other archangels. In some of the domes, Christ is represented with a short beard or even sometimes without any beard, as the son of a virgin. The frescoes of “Christ the Judge” is one cf the main characteristics of the 11th century. Contrary to these, in any Byzantine church outside of Cappadocia, the Holy Virgin and Christ are always painted on the central dome. 11th-century frescoes seem to be less natural than the Archaic Period paintings. In Göreme there are a series of single-aisle chapels and small-domed, cross plan churches with very primitive decorations and carelessly painted figures of Mary, St. Basil, and the Three Mounted Saints. (St. George, St. Theodore, St. Demetrius.) Most of these crude paintings are directly on the rock. In these churches, architectural details are taken care of and the walls are painted in a manner that gives a feeling that the church is made of bricks. Crosses are pa­inted on several places implying that the church is consecrated. This also indicates the symbolic importance of the cross.

In the year 381, Caesarea was discon­nected from the Patriarchate of Antioch and entered the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In this way, the city was un­der the direct influence of the Greek capital. Officially it remained faithful to Orthodoxy and was not effected by the Nestorian, Monophysite, and Paulist doctrines.

In some of the isolated monasteries, old ways of religious thinking and ideas did not perish. The Iconoclastic claim busied their minds for more than a century (726-843). During the first quarter of the 8th century, worshipping of the images went as far as idolatry. At the same time, the Christians were under the influence of Jews and Mos­lems who opposed worshipping figures and images. According to the sacred rules and laws, Christ could not be represented in such a strange and disrespectful way. In the 7th century, the Byzantine community was separated into two groups as monks and laymen. The struggle against the icons
continued with the persecution of the monks, closing of the monasteries, and the revoking of religious privileges.

The Iconoclastic period was broken bet ween 787 and 815, during the reign of Em­press Irene. But Constantin the 5th accele­rated the Iconoclastic movement by calling the Iconoclastic Council to unite. Everything other than the cross was prohibited. It was declared that those who made and posses­sed figures would be punished severely.

With our Cappadocia hot air balloon tours, you will have a chance to see the miracle of nature. We strongly suggest you to join our hot air balloon flights.

In 843 Empress Theodora brought an and to the Iconoclastic period. Destroyed churches were repaired and new churches were built. The walls were painted with mosaics, decorations, frescoes. The mon­astic life made a fresh start. After enough security was established on the eastern bor­der (under an effective religious administrat­ion) Cappadocia ‘ was under the complete authority of the Empire. Even after the Turk­ish occupation, the influence of the Patriarch of Constantinople continued over the Cap­padocian churches. The bishops remained in their districts, but after the 14th century they were reduced in number and population.