Zelve Open Air Museum

About Zelve Open Air Museum

Zelve Open Air Museum in Cappadocia, stands off as a proof of underground lifestyle of ancient civilizations.

It is one of Cappadocia’s oldest and most expansive cave settlements, located near Pasabag.

Once home to both Christian and Muslim communities, Zelve's rock-cut homes, churches, mosques, and tunnels reflect centuries of continuous life carved into soft volcanic slopes.

Abandoned in the 1950s due to erosion, it now serves as an open-air museum, where nature and history blend across a dramatic valley of hollowed stone.