The church at the Aydınlar quarter of Atalar village, in the Torul district of Gümüşhane, has survived in sound condition, which is not the rule for the village churches of this region. Its walls are built of regular cut stone and rubble stone, and it is roofed with a gabled timber roof.
Entry is from the west front, and immediately above the door is a lighting window of 75 by 50 centimetres behind an iron grille. There are two small barred windows on the east front and three more lighting windows of the same 75 by 50 centimetres on the south. Painted decoration in fresco technique survives on the ceiling and walls, and the original tie rods linking the columns are still in place. The church is 27 kilometres from the provincial centre.
Getting there
- Access
- The church is in the Aydınlar neighbourhood of Atalar village in Torul, twenty-seven kilometres from the central district.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Gümüşhane as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -1.7 °C in January to 20.3 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (70 mm) and lightest in August (14 mm). Long-term means for 1961-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
