Cappadocia Mushroom Cliffs and Monks Monastery

One of the unique beauties of Νevşehir, the Aya Nikola Monastery (Church) is 1 km from the town. It is located in the south of Mustafapaşa (Sinasos) in a green area among vineyards and gardens, a ten-minute walk from the center. The monastery is reached by passing the Dere Street, which curves towards the south from the town center. At the beginning of the 200-meter part of the road that reaches the Monastery and continues as soil, there is the church of St. Stefanos carved into the rock, which can be perceived with a small entrance door on the west side.

The monastery is located at the beginning of a relatively flat, gardened and fertile rural land near the skirts of Aliya (Aliye) Hill, southwest of the town. There are rock formations of various shapes and shelters carved into them, waterways and canals, churches and chapels in the land. In the middle of the monolithic rock in the form of the most massive mushroom in the area, the church of the monastery is praised. Coming from Dere Sokak, the road that reaches the monastery front divides into two towards south and west. The road, which turns to the west, leads to the courtyard entrance door of the church after a short slope, and reaches the foothills of the Sinassos church and Aliya Hill ahead. There is a high plateau in the northwest of the building where the old silkworm breeding farm building is located. In the south-west of the church and its courtyard, higher than the main rock of the church but with a smaller volume, There is a fairy chimney where rooms are carved at different levels, which are said to be used as the kitchen of the church. About 60 m from the monastery in the south. In the distance, there is a small church (chapel-capella) carved into a widespread fairy chimney rock mass (St. Yuannis Theologos Holy John Church).

The monastery complex is entered from the garden through a decorated door with two intertwined round arches on the north wall. On the forehead of the round door arch, the name "O AYİOS NIKOLAOS" (St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas, Aya Nikola...) is engraved with Greek letters.

Although the exact date of construction of the monastery is not known, we can say that the building was built in the second quarter of the 19th century. Although no inscriptions documenting the construction date were found on the building, the oldest date of 1855 was found in the carvings and hand-drawn inscriptions containing the name and date on the walls of the inner narthex of the church. It can be thought that the monastery, which is known to have been repaired between 1870-77, was built much earlier in 1855.

Monastery structure in general; It consists of a monolithic-large fairy chimney-rock mass in which the church was carved in the east, and the courtyard-garden in the west and the spaces inside.

On the lower level of the courtyard, which consists of two separate levels, which is understood to be descended with steps, there are two courtyard rooms side by side, the upper floor of which has been demolished and the entrances are partially buried. The rooms have the same decorated entrances in arched niches and vault covers with pointed arches. It is understood that the garden located on the upper level of the courtyard was used as a cemetery. It is understood from the scattered structure of the tombstones, that some of them were broken and the pits opened, that the tombs were destroyed and plundered. As a continuation of the old Greek traditions, it is observed that cloths and rags are tied to the ivy that surrounds the barrier wall separating the two levels in the courtyard today.

To the east of the courtyard is the church part carved into the fairy chimney and its entrance. The church has four wings extending in the east and west directions and dedicated to St. Nicholas, St. Savvas, St. Barbara and St. Minas. It is also claimed that the chapel wing with carved domes and decorated with frescoes in the south was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and St.

There are two separate entrances on the side carved side masonry wall where the completely destroyed outer narthex part of the church, located to the west of the fairy chimneys and visible in detail in old photographs, adjoins the fairy chimney. One of these two entrances is covered with collapsed rock ceiling debris and is buried, while the other entrance is on the nave (wing). The entrance section of the middle nave is covered with a flat ceiling with carved ceiling cornices in both directions, and a rock-carved arch vault that continues up to the apse.

The south neii, located behind the collapsed rock-carved ceilings, consists of a square shaped naos** and two sections separated from the naos by a carved wall and elevation difference. There are many cracks and crevices in the rock ceiling of this large naos space that need to be repaired.

The chapel (chapel) forming the fourth wing of the church in the south; space arrangement, carved niches, ornaments, four arches forming a cross shape, octagonal drum rising in the middle of the vault of Hz. It differs from other parts with its construction features such as the carved dome, in which Jesus and the Virgin Mary are depicted. On the carved ceiling and dome of the small inner narthex in the west of the chapel, Hz. There are frescoes depicting Jesus and the Twelve Apostles. These frescoes have been partially destroyed by the inscriptions engraved on them and the dirt caused by adverse conditions.

It is understood from the old pictures of the building taken in the courtyard, recorded in 1924 (just before the days of the population exchange), that the outer narthex part, which does not exist today, the stone stair steps reaching the roof, the bell tower and the rooms above the existing rooms in the courtyard. The interiors of the church were made with a very smooth handmade workmanship and it has survived to this day by preserving this feature. Except for the small pieces of masonry wall for integration purposes and the west façade walls, the ceiling wall and decoration details of all interior spaces were carved into the rock. Especially on the carved wall of the naos of the south nave facing the apse, there are carved niches that seem to contain fresco-decorated plasterboards. The fairy chimney structure does not exist today, Traditional stone masonry construction techniques were used in the outer narthex part to the east of the courtyard and the rooms in the courtyard. Apart from the rock carving technique in the building, masonry was used as a building material; lithic and basaltic tuff building stones were used. In the interior decoration of the building, in the door-window joinery and in some interior separations, wooden construction material; It is clearly understood that it was used intensively, as can be found in many Greek Orthodox-Greek churches of the same period. However, no examples of these materials have survived due to natural destruction and especially looting. It is clearly understood that it was used intensively, as can be found in many Greek Orthodox-Greek churches of the same period. However, no examples of these materials have survived due to natural destruction and especially looting. It is clearly understood that it was used intensively, as can be found in many Greek Orthodox-Greek churches of the same period. However, no examples of these materials have survived due to natural destruction and especially looting.