Göreme, one of the oldest settlements of Cappadocia, has many riches, especially in terms of history. Göreme is one of the regions where religious structures, especially churches, are very dense. There are many churches in Göreme open air museum. One of them is Tokalı church.
Tokalı Church (Buckled church) is known as one of the oldest rock churches in Cappadocia. It consists of 4 different sections in total. It is estimated that these sections were built in different periods.
It is estimated that the first part, also known as the Old church, was built in the 10th century. Later, this section was converted into an entrance section and a larger area called the new church was built.
In the Tokalı church, St. There are motifs of Jesus. The remarkable part is; It is the depiction of all the sacred fakes that he lived together. These motifs from 31 different scenes are unique in the world. It is not only the preferred motifs that make this church special. The paint used is extremely valuable and techniques that require mastery have been used.
In order to preserve its existence for many years, a restoration work was carried out in the Tokalı church in 2017. The study was carried out under the Ministry of Culture, and Cancel and Turkish artists worked together. During the studies, a special study was carried out to preserve the frescoes.
The reason why the church, which has the title of being the largest stone church in Cappadocia, is considered special is that the building was not built in a single period. As a result of the needs in different periods, additional sections were made to the church and the whole church consists of 4 separate sections.
Buckled Church Tokalı church is one of the churches within the Göreme open air museum. The opening of the church to visits under the Ministry of culture facilitates its protection. You do not have the opportunity to visit whenever you want. The church, where photography is not allowed, is only open to visitors during working hours. For this reason, it is useful to get information about whether it is open on public holidays or not.
To go to Tokalı church, you can take the minibuses departing from Nevsehir. After a 20-25 minute journey, you can get off at the Göreme open air museum and visit the structures in the region. You can also consider renting a car or taking a tour.
There is an entrance fee to the Göreme open air museum, which also includes the Tokalı church. However, if you have a museum card, you can use this card.
