DİREKLİ KİLİSE (The Pillared Church)
This church is located about 70 m from Bahattin’s Granary Church on a rock opposite
Belisırma.
As you enter the church through a horse-shoe shaped door you get the impression that
you are in a basilica with three naves and three apses. The church has a central dome and
six pillars, from which it derives its name. Inscriptions indicate that the church dates
from the first quarter of the 11th century. The best paintings are the figures of saints
on the pillars. The conch of the main apse contains a Deesis with St. Peter and St. Paul
in medallions.
ALA KİLİSE (The Mottled Church)
This church is located to the north of Belisırma village to the right of Güzelyurt
road. It is built on a cruciform plan with a central dome and four irregular cupolas. It
has a very impressive facade cut into the rock. The frescoes of the church are very badly
damaged as a result of the intensive use of the church by the villagers. However, we can
still see fragments of some scenes from the Three Young Israelites in the Fiery Furnace
,the Nativity ,the Story of St. Mary the Egyptian, the Visitation and some vestiges of
paintings depicting saints (The Five Martyrs of Armenia, the Two Martyrs of Edesa, the
Martyrs of Sebaste and four of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.)
KARAGEDİK KİLİSESİ (The Church with the
Black Collar)
This church is located on the right hand side of the river 1 km from Belisırma,
previously known to local Christians as St. Ermolaos. It is not a rock-cut church, but a
cross-domed church built of stone and brick. Only a few fragments of the paintings have
survived. |
