Guide
Madenşehir lies in the middle of Karadağ, 37 kilometres from Karaman, and is part of the group of ruins known as Binbirkilise, the thousand and one churches. One thing to understand before going: a village called Madenşehir still stands within the site, and a good many of the historic buildings have been lost as a result. What partly survives is still enough to give an idea of the art and architecture of the period.
The largest of the Binbirkilise buildings, basilica number one, stands at the entrance to the village. It was first built in 500, was ruined in the Arab raids, and was repaired around 900. On both sides of the road running north from that basilica is the necropolis, where sarcophagi and sarcophagus lids lie scattered on the surface; some have relief figures carved on their outer faces and others only a cross in relief. Beside the road from Madenşehir to Uckuyu village is the site called Yukarı Ören, the remains of an old Turkish village, and there are churches within it; church number ten there represents the round-plan buildings of the Binbirkilise architecture. You need your own vehicle.
