Churches in the center of Cappadocia in Anatolia Turkey.
Wind and water have modeled towers out of Lava stone up to 40 meters in hights.
Cappadocia, which since the 4th Century was part of the byzantin empire, became a christian center in central asia. Hunderts of monasteries and chapels were foundedm all in Tuff – Binbirkilise. At the time there were at least 36 underground "towns" which some were up to eight floors "high", mountend into the caves.
The cave inhabitants apprechiated the isolating climate of the Tuff, cool in summer and warm during the cold winters. The last Christians left in 1924.
The turkish govenment, due to the historical and tourstic intersts, afterwards set up an 95 Square Kilometer large "National Park" (protected area). It has been an Unesco World heritage site since 1985.
(Copyright Georg Gerster/Keystone)