Explore Cappadocia

Cappadocia, which means “the land of beautiful horses” in ancient Persian, is located at the heart of Anatolia. A region that combines unique geological, historic, and cultural features, Cappadocia is an open-air museum in its own right. Millions of years ago three active volcanoes – Erciyes, Hasandağ and Güllüdağ – erupted and these eruptions were so strong that in some places the lava was up to 150 m in thickness. Over many millions of years, volcanoes, wind, rain and ice sculpted the region which is known as Cappadocia. On the eroded landscape, basalt stones remained and formed conical structures which the local people referred to as “fairy chimneys” (in Turkish “peri bacalari”).

Cappadocia was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 on natural and cultural criteria, and has an outstanding universal value for being one of the world’s most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes.

Next to its unique features from a geological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of Byzantine art. Cappadocia has thousands of cave dwellings and churches carved out of rock, and over 250 underground cities.