A short walk from the centre of Göreme, off the start of the path to the Pigeon Valley (Güvercin Vadisi), the Durmuş Kadir Kilise, an interesting Byzantine rock-cut church, goes little visited probably because it lacks the colourful frescoes that are such a drawcard at the nearby Yusuf Koç Kilise. Both churches are named after the men who owned the land on which they stand.
This is one of the oldest churches in Göreme, believed to have been built in the pre-Iconclastic period, in the 6th or 7th century. A huge space, it has three aisles and an unusual free-standing ambo or pulpit as well as a rock-cut sanctuary screen. The thick-set arches and columns are almost Romanesque in their austerity. Some scholars think this might have been the cathedral of Macan, the original settlement on this site. However, others suggest that the church looks as if it was barely used and suspect it was abandoned at an early date, perhaps following one of the Arab raids of the seventh century.
The facade of the church is elaborately carved but was later pierced by pigeon houses, some of them with decorative entrances for the birds.
