Zelve Open Air Museum

If you continue 1 more km after Pasabaglan road you will drop in front of the Zelve Open Air Museum. The place of the open air museum used to be the place of Zelve Village. The village that we called Old Zelve is known as one of the important religious centers of the Christianity between 9th and 13th centuries. A large population was living in the village where initial religious seminars given to priests. The Old Zelve settlement established by carving the rocks at slopes of three big valleys survived as a center where Greeks and Turks used to live together till 1924 exchange. Following the exchange only Turkish communities continued to live here. After 1950, due to the risque of collapse of rocks, the village was evacuated and moved to 2 km far Aktepe Village. Some called it New Zelve. Zelve Open Air Museum is one of the most popular visiting sites with its natural formations, impressive landscape and historical structures. Around 15 churches without frescoes built during Iconoclasm take place at the museum site.