Zelve-Paşabağlar Archaeological Site

Zelve lies about five kilometres from Avanos on the steep northern slopes of Aktepe, and Paşabağlar is a kilometre further on. Zelve consists of three valleys and is the place in Cappadocia where fairy chimneys are densest. Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries it was one of the important Christian settlements and religious centres of the region, and the first religious seminars for priests were held around here.

The valley's main churches, Balıklı, Üzümlü and Geyikli, date from before the Iconoclastic period, 728 to 842. In the first valley you can also see a mill and a winery, in the second a church of the Holy Cross, and in the third the village square and a monastery complex carved into a dome-like rock, with a mosque opposite. Pigeonhouses carved high on the slopes, with simple painted decoration on their façades, add to the character of the valley, and the Direkli Church stands at the exit. People lived in Zelve until 1952.

Paşabağlar, once known as the Valley of the Priests, has particularly striking fairy chimneys with several stems and heads that people carved into chapels and living spaces. One three-headed chimney holds a chapel dedicated to Saint Simeon, with a cell beside it. Simeon lived an ascetic life near Aleppo in the fifth century, and when crowds came seeking miracles he withdrew, first to a two-metre column and then to a fifteen-metre one, where he stayed for a long time.