Ala Kilise is a rock-cut church in the Ihlara valley, within the bounds of Belisırma village. It is monumental in scale and laid out on the closed Greek cross plan, with the dome rising on the walls that enclose the corner rooms; the central space, the arms of the cross and the corner rooms are all barrel-vaulted. Be prepared for the state of the paintings: they cover the walls and the vaulting but are partly destroyed, and what survives lies under a thick layer of dirt and soot.
The facade of the rock mass holding the monastery rooms is the other thing to look at. Four piers divide it into three vertical sections, closed at the top by a cornice of blind arches, and two mouldings cut each section into three horizontal bands, the uppermost of which carries a blind arcade throughout. The left-hand section is twice the width of the others and contains the church door. In the lower part of the middle section are two blind horseshoe-arched niches crowned by triangular pediments, and the right-hand one holds the door through to the rest of the monastery. The paintings are dated to the end of the tenth or the first half of the eleventh century. They include the Visitation on the south pediment of the southern cross arm; the Nativity on the north pediment of the northern arm and the Anastasis on its western pediment; the Entry into Jerusalem and the Last Supper on the south and north pediments of the western arm; and in the southwest corner room the Three Hebrews in the Furnace, the communion of Mary of Egypt, Zosimus giving her his cloak, and figures of saints. Belisırma is 33 kilometres from central Aksaray, with public transport at set times of day.
Getting there
- Access
- The church is in the Ihlara valley, within Belisırma village, 33 km from central Aksaray; public transport runs to Belisırma from the centre at certain hours of the day.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Aksaray as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.6 °C in January to 23.6 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (46 mm) and lightest in August (6 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
