Uchisar Date Uchisar Cappadocia Uchisar Turkey
Uchisar is situated at the highest point in the region, on the Nevsehir-Goreme road, just 7 km from Nevsehir. It is not known when Uchisar was first inhabited, however, in style, it resembles Ortahisar and the Selime Kalesi (castle) in the Ihlara Region.
The top of the citadel provides a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area. Many rooms hollowed out into the rock are connected to each other with stairs, tunnels and passages. At the entrances of the rooms, there are millstone doors, Uchisarjust like the ones in the underground settlements, used to control access to these places. Due to the erosion in places of this multi-leveled castle, it is unfortunately not possible to reach all the rooms.
The fairy chimneys to the west, east and north of Uchisar were hollowed out and used as graves during the Roman period. Inside these rock cut tombs, the entrances of which generally face west, are klines or stone slabs on which the bodies were laid. Many rock cut churches have been discovered not only on the skirts of the castle but also inside it. The reason for this may be the fact that Goreme, having numoreus churches and monasteries, is very close to Uchisar. The simple Byzantine graves on top of Uchisarthe castle are not very interesting due to the fact that they have been eroded and ransacked. It is said that in towns with citadels, e.g. Uchisar, Ortahisar and Ürgüp (Bashisar), long defense tunnels reached far into the surrounding areas. However, since the tunnels have collapsed in places, this theory cannot be confirmed, but is a popular myth as to the great distances they cover.
