Üzümlü Church ( tr, Üzümlü Kilisesi) is a 7th-century church located in the
Zelve Valley in
Central Anatolia
The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray.
Located in Central Turkey, it is bordered ...
. The church itself is classified as a "
fairy chimney
A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the ...
formation".
This church is considered one of the most important historic churches in Zelve, along with ''Balıklı Kilise'' and ''Haçlı Kilise''. It is located in
Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
s Red Valley, near the town of
Ortahisar
Ortahisar is a district and second level municipality in Trabzon Province, Turkey. According to Law act no 6360, all Turkish provinces with a population more than 750,000 would be metropolitan municipality and the districts within the metropoli ...
.
The walls of the church are decorated with red and green painted grapevines and a cross is
carved
Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
into the ceiling. Located nearby is the Valley of the Monks (known as ''PaÅŸabaÄŸ'' or ''Rahipler vadisi'' in Turkish) which is full of distinctive fairy chimney rock formations.
References
{{coord missing, Turkey
Cappadocia
Churches in Turkey