Kayakapı

The Kayakapi neighbourhood of Ürgüp is a historical area located on the northeastern slope of a hill known as Esbelli. It features many examples of vernacular and monumental architecture, including the House of Saint John the Russian (Yuhannes). Abandoned after the 1980s, the semi-ruins and natural landscape of Kayakapi are now being developed for tourism.

Natural Environment

The geographical context within which Kayakapi Neighbourhood is located is characterized by a semi-mountainous landscape and volcanic tuff, pumice and basalt rocks. The fairy chimneys uniquely found in this region of Anatolia and the tradition of rock-carved houses are a result of the nature of this special kind of soft tuff stone.

The most prominent river in the province is Kızılırmak (Halys), with secondary rivers flowing down from Hodul Mountain (1.949m) and joining it; among these, Damsa river is also the site of the region's only lake and the valley on which Ürgüp periods onto the Seljukid and Ottoman empires. The ‘land of beautiful horses’, as it was called by the Persians, is renowned for the rock-carved shelters that were made by the early Christians fleeing the wave of iconoclasm which spread in the Byzantine Empire, and later by those who escaped the Arab attacks during the 8th – 9th centuries AD. The region is believed to be used as a missionary center, starting from the 1st – 2nd centuries AD, when the first Christian communities appeared, leading the construction of many churches and monasteries in Ürgüp, which is now a Historical National Park, and in neighbouring areas. Nevşehir and Soğanlı are the three valleys where this kind of life was prevalent. Among the nearly 200 underground cities in Cappadocia, 45 of them are in Nevşehir Province.

An important find dating from the late Roman – early Byzantine period is a very large floor mosaic and building complex, the first of its kind in the region, which was uncovered by the Nevşehir Museum officials, in Şahin Efendi (Söviş) village, near Soğanlı Valley, in early 2002.

From later periods, Rükneddin Kılıç Aslan and Altıkapılı Mausoleums (Türbe) should be mentioned. One of the important Islamic monuments in this region is the Taşkınpaşa Complex (Külliye) in Damsa Village, which is known to exist since the Karamanoğlu Principality.

It is noteworthy that in the 19th century, Cappadocian settlements such as Mustafapaşa (Sinasos), Derinkuyu, Uçhisar and Göreme, due to its interactive economical and social relations. There are regular buses, which come to Ürgüp lived during the late Ottoman times and was regarded as a saint by the local Greeks. The House of John is especially worth mentioning as a place of pilgrimage that is annually visited by the Orthodox Greeks on 27 May. Looking at the settlement history of the city, Kayakapi is thought to be the first settlement area in Ürgüp and as one of the three city centers of the province with a population exceeding 10.000, it has historically had a larger center than Nevşehir and Turkey in 1923.

Today, the population (14.502 in 2000) consists mostly of young people, with 900 students enrolled in seven primary schools and three high schools, among them a vocational school for girls. The lively cultural and social scene of the city hosts a sizeable library, a city museum and regular festivals including the Cappadocia Film Festival. The Municipality is also a member of the Turkish Association of Historic Towns and Regions and an active follower of the Local Agenda 21, which was adopted in June 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development – the global action plan for sustainable development for the 21st century.

After the introduction of tourism in the region in the 1970s, a significant population growth occurred, and the livelihood of the majority of the local people became tourism, along with traditional agricultural activities. Ürgüp. More specific planning works undertaken for Ürgüp

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