Güzelyurt

Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / County

Güzelyurt ( Turkish for Beautiful home ) is the capital of a district in the southwestern Cappadocia in the Turkish province of Aksaray. The town has 2,672 inhabitants, the district 12,527 (as of 2012) in an area of ​​322 km2. Güzelyurt located 32 km east of the provincial capital of Aksaray.

History

In the third century AD, the place under the name Karballa was inhabited by various Christian monastery communities. In the fourth century here grew up, known as the Cappadocian church father Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, who was born in nearby Arianzos. Until the early 20th century Güzelyurt was settled under the name of Gelveri Greeks and known for pottery and goldsmith's art. During this period more than a hundred churches. After the Greek inhabitants had been expelled in 1923 under the Greek-Turkish population exchange, here Turkish families from the Greek Kastoria and from Kozan were settled, the name Güzelyurt gave the place ( Beautiful Homeland).

Attractions

In the south of the village is the Kloster Güzelyurt ( Manastır Vadisi ) with numerous cave churches carved into the tufa and monastery complexes. Five kilometers to the west in the vicinity of a reservoir is the fortress-like Yüksek Kilise ( Superscript church) of the 19th century, the frescoes were painted over in the Muslim period, in the East also increased lying Kızıl Kilise ( Red Church ), which takes its name reddish from the masonry has. The origin of the masonry is still unknown. It was created between the fifth and seventh centuries, from its frescoes almost nothing is received. Nearby are three underground cities, another has its entrance directly on the market square of the city, it is converted into a disco.

About six kilometers southwest of the Ihlara Valley there were numerous rock-hewn churches.