Zelve Open Air Museum

Historical backgroundZelve’s origins trace to early Byzantine times, when Christian monks carved sanctuaries into the cliffs between the 9th and 13th centuries. Churches such as Direkli (Columned), Üzümlü (Grape), and Balıklı (Fish) belong to the pre-Iconoclastic era. After the Byzantine period, the community evolved into an Ottoman-era village where Muslims and Christians coexisted peacefully. Following the 1924 Greco-Turkish population exchange and increasing erosion, residents were relocat...