Ian
priscilla 1Cappadocia
June 15th 2009 02:22
Cappadocia, (or Capadocia, Turkish Kapadokya), was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christian tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by fairy chimneys and a unique historical and cultural heritage. The term, as used in tourism, roughly corresponds to present-day Nevsehir Province of Turkey.
A view of Cappadocia’s erosion-worn landscape from an overlook.
The area is a famous and popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic and cultural features.
Christians fleeing Roman persecution took refuge in Cappadocia’s rocky terrain early in the first millennium. By the 4th century, a monastic community formed in central Cappadocia.
Though some of the dwellings and monasteries carved into Cappadocia’s fairy chimneys originate in the first millennium, many still remain intact. Today, modern buildings stand side-by-side with these anachronistic structures.
The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to 3 million years ago (late Miocene to Pliocene epochs). The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. The volcanic deposits are soft rocks that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches, monasteries.
Cappadocia’s bizarre rock formations originate from volcanic activity that deposited a layer of lava over a layer of softer, more erosion-prone tufa. After wind, water and temperate changes took their course, fairy chimneys formed in spots where the lava deposits remained, slowing the wear of the underlying tufa layer.
The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. It is a complex comprising more than 30 rock-carved churches and chapels containing some superb frescoes, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries.
A church carved from stone in the Goreme Open-Air Museum.
This underground passageway in the town of Kaykmakli in Cappadocia is one of a network of passages that served as refuges for people escaping hostility. In the 7th century, these passageways grew into multilevel underground communities.
*These images and text sourced from the LA Times here.
**This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia artcle for Cappadocia
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