Nearly 700,000 visit Cappadocia in first four months

NEVŞEHİR

Museums and archaeological sites in Cappadocia welcomed 697,631 domestic and foreign visitors in the first four months of the year, according to the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Cappadocia, known for its unique natural, cultural and historical richness, attracts millions of visitors annually. The region’s museums and open-air sites offer guests a variety of immersive experiences.

Open-air museums, which showcase the traces of civilizations that once lived in dwellings carved into fairy chimneys and soft tuff rock formed millions of years ago, continue to draw interest from both local and international tourists.

Among Türkiye’s most-visited cultural attractions, the Göreme Open-Air Museum takes visitors on a journey through time with its numerous rock-cut historical structures.

Between January and April, the Göreme Open-Air Museum hosted 295,949 visitors, followed by the Paşabağı Archaeological Site with 235,800, the Zelve Open-Air Museum with 79,179, the Dark Church with 42,935, the Hacı Bektaş Veli Museum with 38,396 and the Hacıbektaş Archaeology and Ethnography Museum with 5,372, according to official data.

Özay Onur, head of the Nevşehir Tourist Guides’ Association (NERO), told Anadolu Agency that the open-air museums in Cappadocia are among the most treasured assets of Turkish tourism.

“These sites feature historical churches, chapels, monasteries, mosques and living quarters carved into rock formations,” Onur said. “They leave a strong impression on visitors.”

Highlighting the uniqueness of open-air museology, Onur added: “The Göreme Open-Air Museum was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985. It alone attracted nearly 300,000 visitors in the first four months of this year.”

Sharing the total visitor figure for all major museums and sites in the region, Onur said, “The number reached 697,631 in the January–April period.”

“There are 17 churches and chapels, large and small, within the Göreme Open-Air Museum. It is a structure rarely seen elsewhere in the world,” he added. “In 1952, due to a natural disaster, the village located at the Zelve Open-Air Museum was relocated as part of a government resettlement policy, effectively freezing life in that area.”

“These two open-air museums are the first and last abandoned settlements in Cappadocia,” Onur said.