Göreme: MRA-TUR-Gor014

Dating to the 900s, the  El Nazar church is carved into a fairy chimney, with its interior following a domed cruciform plan measuring only 7x7 meters. Unlike most other churches of the period in the Göreme Valley, El Nazar also features niche seats carved into the walls of the church. Also in contrast to several of its contemporaries, El Nazar’s program of mural paintings follow a chronological sequence, dedicated to key scenes from the life of Christ. It is not readily apparent when the church fell into disuse; that it was later repurposed to harvest pigeon manure, however, is evident from holes cut for birds to perch in and damages to some of the mural paintings. Restorations were undertaken in 1999 to address these and other damages, and involved the addition of a cement floor to replace the lost earlier floor.

Sources:

https://www.cappadociahistory.com/post/el-nazar-church

https://turkisharchaeonews.net/object/church-evil-eye-el-nazar-kilise-göreme

Further reading:

Yorulmaz, M., & Ahunbay, Z. (1995). Structural Consolidation of El Nazar Church. In The safeguard of the rock-hewn churches of the Göreme valley: proceedings of an international seminar, Ürgüp, Cappadocia, Turkey, 5-10 September 1993 (pp. 135-142).

Rossi, P. P. (1993). Stability analysis and monitoring of rock-hewn churches in the Göreme valley. In The safeguard of the rock-hewn churches of the Göreme valley: proceedings of an international seminar, Ürgüp, Cappadocia, Turkey, 5-10 September 1993 (pp. 125-133).