Karanlik Kilise

In the heart of Turkiye’s Cappadocia, an otherworldly landscape known for its fairy chimneys, is  the Karanlik Kilise, or Dark Church, one of the region's most important Byzantine monuments.

Thought to have been built around the 11th century, this UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site is hewn from the innards of a mountain, its ancient rock walls painted with a series of extraordinary Byzantine frescoes. After 1453, when Byzantium fell, the church - along with all the other Byzantine churches in the area - fell into ruin, and for centuries was used as a dovecote, its paintings hidden (and preserved) under layers of pigeon manure. Restored in the 1980s, the church is now open to the public, who can once again marvel at its near thousand-year-old images.

Visit Karanlik Kirise on a tailor-made trip to Turkiye.