The History of Ürgüp the Fairy Tale City

Macedonians (Alexander the Great), Romans, Fatih and Yavuzlar, who went to the east, and the Ottoman sultans who followed them all passed through this region and made their supplies here. The region was called 'Katpatuka' in the Assyrian period and 'Cappadocia' in classical times. Ürgüp has been an area that could not be shared between Hittites and Egyptians, as it is covered with a tuff layer, very soft and helps to protect it, and it has caused frequent wars due to its strategic importance. Ürgüp, having its strategic value and the most favorable conditions bestowed upon it by nature, and its surroundings are proven by archaeological witnesses, historical records and living examples, where it lived a very rich, passionate and colorful life in the past. Until the birth of science branches such as Hittitology, Sumerology, and Physiology of Ancient Languages, our knowledge did not exceed about the 1st century BC with the semi-legendary knowledge of Greek historians. In the 19th century, it was possible to see the traces of settlement in Cappadocia, dating back to 5000-4000 BC, with the sciences mentioned above. The arrival of inscription in Anatolia was spread by the Assyrians, who established commercial colonies in this region in 2000 BC. The Hittite Kingdom ruled in 1000 BC. Cappadocia, which was united with the Lydian Kingdom in the sixth century BC and witnessed a great civilization, entered into the domination of Persians in 521 BC.

It entered into the domination of Macedonian King Alexander the Great, who passed through the region in 334 BC, and Alexander the Great appointed one of his commanders to administer this region on his behalf. Ariarrathes, whom he appointed, established the Kingdom of Cappadocia in 323 BC, and in this way, the sovereign and Great Cappadocia Kingdom took its place in the history pages and lived its brightest periods in Ürgüp, which is in the region. The cities of Ürgüp, Kemerhisar, and Kayseri were among the civilized cities of Cappadocia. During this period, nearly 30 thousand people lived in Ürgüp. The Kingdom of Cappadocia was invaded by the Romans in 27 BC and became a province of the Roman Empire. With the spread of Christianity in this region, churches and chapels have been built by Christians since 53 AD, and the region has been a shelter for Christians who were persecuted in Jerusalem and Syria. Despite the persecution of the Pagan Rome, Christianity found the opportunity to develop in the Ürgüp region, and both the caves dug by the Hittites and the valleys formed as a result of volcanic and erosional activities became the shelter of the first Christians who escaped from persecution and death. After the religious freedom was given to the Christians in 336 AD, Christianity spread rapidly around Cappadocia and became the religious center of the priests who retreated to the column. Many churches that can be visited today have been built since the 5th century, and they began to be illustrated after the abolition of Iconoclasm in 842.

After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, Cappadocia entered into the domination of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire. In the first periods, Cappadocia was in a quiet life away from external pressures. It remained a central province during the reign of Justinian (526-565). This happy period ended with the Sassanian raids at the beginning of the VII century. They faced Arab raids under the command of Maslama from the south. It became the outpost of the Byzantine Empire in the wars with the Arabs. Kayseri was occupied twice in 647 and 726, in Ankara 838 and Kemerhisar 806, during the periodical Arab raids. The Byzantine Empire was able to prevent Arab raids in the IX century. This critical period, which lasted about 250 years, caused the Rock of Cappadocia to gain importance. The Christian people fleeing from the enemies migrated to these places and took shelter in the caves where they carved into the rocks on the valley slopes and underground. However, Sassanian and Arab raids were not the only reason in this century. The second reason for immigration was the persecution and resentment of Iconoclasm.

Iconoclasm, the use of depiction arts or not, has been a matter of debate for a long time in Byzantium. The idea of embodying the concept of God in the Greeks and the abstract conception of God in the East has always been two conflicting understandings. Although Byzantium had an abstract God conception, the people needed a concrete God conception. Emperor Leo III outlawed the worship of depictions in 725. Many icons (pictures and statues of holy persons) were destroyed. Empress Theodora ended the prohibition of depiction in 842. Today, it is celebrated as a feast day by the Orthodox. With the effect of the atmosphere of peace and trust that prevailed in the middle of the X and XI centuries, the most beautiful works of Rock of Cappadocia began to be produced. The churches in Göreme Outdoor Museum are the products of this period.

Cappadocia entered into the domination of Karamanoğlu Principality among the principalities that emerged as a result of the collapse of the Anatolian Seljuk State, which was established in 1080 after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, under the influence of Mongol raids. During this period, mosques, caravansaries, and madrasas began to appear alongside churches and monasteries. There was no conflict between the Muslim people and the Christian people. Turkish-Islamic sovereignty did not interfere with the religious thought and behavior of Christian communities. The sovereignty was tolerant of them. In this way, the construction of the church continued. The 'Broken Martyrs Church' in Şahinefendi Village is one of the last rock churches built in Cappadocia. (1216-1217) When Cappadocia entered into the domination of Ottoman rule, the Christian people abandoned their old active life. Rock churches and monasteries were evacuated. Ürgüp region has become the place of those who prefer the mystical life, as the erosional result creates a mystical spirit on people, and has become the retreat corners preferred by those who dream of the “After Life” to prepare for the life after death.

Where does the name of Ürgüp come from?

It is the name of a priest who lived in the second century AD, named HAIOS or AYIOS, and its Latin pronunciation is “PROKOPIOS”. (Prof. Dr. Bekir KÜTÜKOĞLU) As in Turkish, in the words “geldim”, “gittim”, “kaldım”, the suffixes “-tim”, “-dım” are dropped and the words become “gel, git, kal”. In Latin, the suffixes “-ıos, -ım, -ın” are dropped and PROKOP remains, and it is called ÜRGÜP, different from “Pireküp”. The Seljuk pronunciation of “PROKOP” is “PİREKÜP”.

Today, there is a town named Ürgüp, which comes from the same name, to the south of Belgrade. It is written as “PROKOPIOS” instead of Ürgüp in his work “Les Eglises Rupestres de Cappadoce” and in the map no. 2 which he added to the work.

In another work of İsmail Habib SEVÜK, the origin of Ürgüp is explained as follows. In the past, someone from Ürgüp went to Turkestan for trade. When someone was asked where someone was from, someone said that “I am from Ürgüp,” and they said that “then there are many stones in your hometown.” Someone from Ürgüp was astonished, and they said that “Right, but how do you know this from all these years?” They explained what they understood from its name and they explained that KÜP (KUP) means many, and UR means castle or rock.

It was known as “Osiana” during the Byzantine Empire period. It was called “Başhisar” in the Seljuk Period, and it was known as “Urkup” in the Ottoman period. The Cappadocia region is a magical tale written and drawn by nature and bestowed upon us. It is the place where nature and history are best integrated in the world. While geographical events created the Fairy Chimneys, people also built houses inside these fairy chimneys, built churches and decorated them with frescoes, and brought the traces of thousands of years old civilizations to the present day. In order to save this incredible cultural treasure and not to lose it to others, Thales of Miletus divided the Kızılırmak (Halys) into two for the Lydian King to resist the Persian invasions and crossed the army and made his first scientific calculations in history here. The cities and districts of the Cappadocia planet, due to the fact that the fame of Cappadocia has increased today and overflowed its borders; the names of the cities and districts, it covers, are lost in this general definition.

The natural beauties and cultural riches of Ürgüp, Avanos, Zelve and Göreme have attracted the attention of historians and travelers for centuries. Cappadocia began to be called “Katpatuka” during the Persian period and Katpatukka meant the region where horses were bred well. However, the debate about whether the word belongs to Hatti, Luvite, Hittite and Assyrian is still on the agenda. For this reason, the sources related to horse and horses breeding have been researched and important data have been obtained. During the Great State (1460-1190 BC), the Hittites gave great importance to horse breeding. For this purpose, we observe that expert horse breeders were brought from the Mitanni hometown and their recommendations were written on tablets and passed down from generation to generation. Indeed, a work written by a young horse breeder, named Kikkuli, from Mittani, was found in the archive of Boğazköy State. Xenophon in 401 BC, Strabon from Amasya in 18 AD, Gregoir of Nissa in 334-394 AD, and a young vineyard farmer from Maccan (form Göreme) (495-515 AD) left us important writings about the history of the region.

Paul Lucas, who was commissioned by the French Royal Palace to make trips to the Mediterranean countries, was the first person to introduce this interesting region to the recent Europe in his travel book. Paul Lucas, who was commissioned by the French King Louis XIV to conduct research in the eastern countries, was astonished when he came to Avanos and Ürgüp on his way from Ankara to Kayseri in August 1705. The geological structure of the region, reminiscent of a fairy tale, especially the interesting rock places where people live, the churches and the colorful world inside surprises him. After returning to his hometown, Lucas published his travel notes as a two-volume travelogue in Paris in 1712, while describing what he saw in the Cappadocia region in a rather exaggerated way, adding a little imagination: ...When I saw the ruins of old buildings on the opposite of the Kızılırmak, I was incredibly surprised. These were numerous unprecedented pyramids. He said that “They all had a beautiful door inside, a beautiful stairs to go up, and large windows to let all the rooms light up. They consisted of many circles carved one above the other inside a single rock mass. Their number was not two or three hundred, but more than two thousand. At first, I thought that these pyramids might be former monks' residences. These shapes I saw reminded me of monks' headdresses. But, then I realized there were other different shapes as well.”

In his second pass through the region in 1714, he described these fairy chimneys as “the graveyard of an ancient city that had disappeared”. Thereupon, a great scandal erupted in the palace of King Louis XIV, they began to believe that Paul Lucas had a disease of lying (mythomania), and he even asked the French Ambassador in Istanbul, Comte Desalleurs, to go to this region and investigate whether Paul Lucas was telling the truth or not. Mr. Le Comte Desalleurs confirmed that the event was true and that there were thousands of pyramid-shaped phenomena. When the Travelogue was published, it caused great controversy in the European public. Ürgüp and its surroundings, seen in the engravings, is a very distant land for the Europe of that day. Moreover, the information provided by Lucas about the region does not comply with the ancient sources about Cappadocia. This fantastic portrayal of Paul Lucas attracted great attention in the West, but he was not convincing to some and was met with suspicion. The German writer C.M. Wieland (1733-1814) expressed his criticisms with the following sentences: He said that “It seems impossible to me to believe in the existence of such a large number of house-shaped pyramids, which we have not come across in the slightest mention in any ancient author's book or travelogue.”

A more realistic presentation of Ürgüp and its surroundings belongs to the French traveler Charles Texier, who came to the region about 130 years after Lucas. This famous architect, who was commissioned by the French Government to conduct research in Anatolia, also explained the Cappadocia region in detail during his travels in 1833 and 1837. Later, while publishing the results of his travels and investigations in Anatolia together with his engravings and plans in his six-volume monumental work titled “Deion de I'Asie Mineure...” he said that “Nature has never exhibited itself in such an extraordinary way to a stranger's eyes. I have never heard of such a constant and more fantastic natural phenomenon in any part of the world.” After Lucas, European travelers came to the region for more scientific research in the 19th century and could not hide their astonishment in the face of this different geological structure.

British Traveler W.F. Ainsworth describes the unrealistic view of the volcanic valley as follows: “After crossing a valley along the river, we suddenly found ourselves in a forest of conical and columnar rocks that surrounded an endless mess. It was as if we were visiting the ruins of a very old and big city. Some cones carried large and misshapen rock fragments at the top.” W.J. Hamilton, one of the famous British geologists who came to the region in July 1837, agrees with Texier's view by saying that “Words are not enough to describe the appearance of this extraordinary region.”

In October 1838, the famous Prussian Field Marshal Moltke stopped in Ürgüp on his way from Kayseri to Nevşehir; he said that “An ancient castle on a cliff that was steep and strangely hollow with caverns stood looking out over the town. The houses of Ürgüp are made of stone, extremely elegant... The plateau behind Ürgüp is covered with vineyards and divided by deep valleys. Strange castles rise on their slopes as the pictures seen on old wallpapers,” and he draws attention to the characteristic texture of the region.

Texier's book “asie Mineure”, published in 1862, contains more information about rock churches. In the work on Byzantine architecture, published in 1864 with the British architect R.P. Pullan, the rock churches in and around Ürgüp are also included in detail. British WJ Hamilton; expresses admiration with the sentence “Words are not enough to describe the image of this extraordinary place.”

Scientific research and publications began in the late 19th century. Analyzing the physical structure of the Cappadocia region and introducing its historical resources was carried out by scientists such as A.D. Mordtmann, W. M. Ramsey, J.R.S. Sterret and Ch. Texier. The monumental work named Cappadocia Rock Churches by G. de Jerphanion in 1907-1912; is the first major study that systematically deals with rock churches, monasteries and the wall frescoes in them in terms of art history. In 1958, the French Nicole Thierry and Catherine Jolivet helped Cappadocia to reach its present reputation by publishing churches that were not included in the study of priest Jerphanion.

First Human Traces in the Region

Although paleolithic traces are found in the region, the histories of such cultures do not trace back so far, perhaps they represent the last paleolithic period. In any case, the data obtained is in this direction. As the reason for this, we have to assume that the 'Würm' Glacier remained on the Anatolian plateau for a long time and especially that the volcanic eruptions did not allow human settlements. However, despite all this lack of evidence, it is clear that the river of the Cappadocia region and the valleys with abundant fresh water resources offered natural life resources very suitable for the first human sessions. It would not be wrong to think that tuff rocks, (which can be easily carved with a harder stone, such as obsidian) often without even the use of metal, constituted a warm dwelling for people. It is clear that the high rock areas on the sides of the valley are also suitable for protection. We know that for hundreds of thousands of years, human societies continued their existence by collecting fruit, hunting and fishing, and they settled on the river banks due to their vital dependence on water. In this context, Kızılırmak has undoubtedly fulfilled this historical duty silently. However, the absence of traces to prove them is the result of the living nature of Cappadocia; in the course of time, these traces are erased and disappear when they are enlarged by the next ones and become the scene of the dwelling again. For this reason, it is very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to date the rock sites of Cappadocia.

In addition to important settlements and artifacts from the Hittite period, as well as prehistoric cultures associated with Continental European cultures near Gelveri, British archaeologists found stone tools belonging to the paleolithic and Neolithic periods on Avla Hill, 8 km Southeast of Ürgüp. Likewise, the prehistoric researches, which carried out by the British Institute of Archeology in Ankara between 1964 and 1966, revealed very interesting findings. As a result of these researches carried out under the direction of Ian Todd, many settlements starting from the Neolithic Period, mostly in Nevşehir, Niğde, have been identified. Some of these are a very large Neolithic age settlement in the town of İğdeli Çeşme, Acıgöl and Tatlarin, which are within the borders of Nevşehir. The Acemhöyük excavations, which carried out in Yeşilova, close to the Salt Lake (Tatta), 18 km Northwest of Aksaray, are quite interesting. The finds in the building are dated to the end of the century IV and about the middle century VII. A settlement consisting of regularly arranged houses was unearthed under the Byzantine structures. It is understood from the finds that this was a defenseless settlement engaged in agriculture. While the layer after the Byzantine settlement (layer III) should have been from the Roman Period, the Hellenistic pottery could be dated between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. A culture layer of about four meters below is also related to the Hellenistic period. Almost all of these settlements, consisting of four architectural layers, have traces of fire and earthquakes. Settlement of layer IV ended with a severe fire. On the fifth layer, two old human bodies, trying to protect themselves from something that came upon them, describe a terrible earthquake very clearly. The bodies of two young people were also found on layer VII, which was destroyed by fire. After the layer VIII, houses with a megaron plan begin to be seen. The mud brick fortification wall sitting on the filled embankment was unearthed on the layer XVI. Glossy red ceramics with geometric motifs were found on the layer XVII, dated to 600-500 BC. There are Hittite and cultural ruins from Early Bronze Age between the layers XIX-XXIV. Ruins of the walls made with simple techniques and vessels from the Hittite tradition were found on the layers XX and XXII. Chalcolithic and the ruins from Early Bronze Age dating back to 4000 BC have been regularly identified. The fact that Hacı Bektaş mound (Sulucakarahöyük) in 1968 showed traces of the Middle Hittite, Phrygian, Roman, Late Roman and Byzantine, starting from the old Hittite in the region, and that 24 architectural layers dating from the First Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period were unearthed during the excavations in Topaklı Höyük by the Italians in 1967 proves that the Cappadocia region is a very old settlement.

Since the transition to settled life, trade and similar relations have emerged between the settlements to meet the basic needs, and the units that have and produce the basic materials needed have become important centers in every period. At the end of the Old Bronze Age (3200-1950 BC), Assyrian traders called the region within the Kızılırmak borders the “Land of Hatti”. The merchants of the Assyrian city in Northern Mesopotamia established a wide and effective trade network in Central Anatolia. (1950-1750 BC) The center of this trade network is Kültepe-Kaneş near Kayseri. The names of nine big trade centers and hundreds of small cities can be seen in the tens of thousands of terracotta trade letters they left. Among them, we also see Nenessa. Besides, one of the main natural roads from Aksaray to Kayseri is the riverside of Kızılırmak. There is information that it was inhabited during the Hittites. While J.C. Gardin and P. Garelli were examining the Assyrian trade routes of the early 19th century BC, and when they found that the commercial borders extended to the Incesu, Aksaray, Konya, Bor, Niğde and Ereğli regions, they saw that Nenessa and Washania were within the borders of this region. In addition, the tablets show that two Assyrian merchants constantly passed through Washania, Nenessa and Ullama to go from Kaneş (Kayseri-Kültepe) to Burushhattum (Acemhöyük) in four days. In 1926, linguist Emile Forrer read the name of the city of Zu-Winassa on a tablet during linguist's research in Boğazköy Hittite Royal Archives. Zu-Winassa Hittite must have been pointing to the same city in the Nenessa Assyrian language. Venessa evolved into Avanos according to the studies of Nenessa N.Therry (or St. Vanot mentioned by Gregoir of Nissa). In Ottoman documents, Avanos is referred to as “Enes, Uvenez, and Evenez”.

In 2000 BC, we see city-states in central Anatolia. In this period, the Hittites came to Central Anatolia, namely the Land of Hatti, and established dominance in 1750 BC. In 1200 BC, the tribes from Thrace and the Mediterranean-Aegean tribes crushed Troia, the subject of Homer's epics, and destroyed the Hittite Empire. Anatolia was buried in the 400-year dark period with these invasions and the Phrygians took possession of the region. We witness that the Kingdom of Hittite Tabal was seen again in the region around 800 BC. The Tabal kingdom became famous for its horse breeding and was destroyed around 700 BC. The center of this kingdom is Tuvanna (Tıana-Kemerhisar) around Bor. The first peoples of the Cappadocia region were Hattians, Luwis and Hittites. In this region, the Assyrians established trade colonies (Assyrian trade colonies era) at the end of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium BC. The Assyrian cuneiform tablets (early second millennium BC) found in Kültepe (Kaneş) and called “Cappadocia tablets” are the first written documents of Anatolia. The studies on the tablets and reading the inscription revealed that they belonged to Assyrian merchants. These tablets, which shed light on the social and political life of the period, were actually commercial and economic contracts. According to these documents, there were small local kingdoms and principalities in Central Anatolia during this period, which were not dependent on a central authority. They usually took over a small territory and lived in peace.

Kaneş (Kültepe), the most important city of the period, was the center of trade activity in Anatolia. In the second half of the century IX, the Tabal Kingdom, which expanded very much, completely took over the region. The hieroglyphic rock inscriptions found in Hacıbektaş-Karaburna, Topada (Acıgöl), Gülşehir-Sıvasa (Gökçetoprak) shows this situation. The region, which formed the core of the Hittite Empire, later entered into the dominance of the Phrygians and the Persians. After that, the region was invaded by the Cimmerians and Scythians, and immediately after 700 BC, it entered into the dominance of the Lydian, Med and Persian empires. We see that Nevşehir and its region entered into the dominance of the Lydian from the century VI. In the middle of the century VI, the Lydian king Cresus crossed the Kızılırmak to stop the Persian attacks. (575-546 BC) Thales of Miletus showed Cresus the way to cross the river. The historian Herodotus describes it as follows; “Thales, who was at his mansion at that time, had a deep ditch dug in the shape of a half-moon towards the top of the mansion; so that the river, which deviated from its old river bottom, flowed from the opposite direction of the mansion and after circumnavigating it, the river was flowing to its first river bottom; and thus it was easier to cross the river that had split in two. “The region falls into the hands of the Persians (Achaemenids) with the defeat of Creus in this war. The Persians did not force the people to migrate. However, they left the administration of the great lands to the military-nobles of Persian origin, the local religious leaders of the people. Local culture fused with Persian culture; Heradot describes the cultural structure of the Persians as follows; “They do not know how to make a statue of a god, a temple, an altar; they slaughter the victims on the mountain tops and what they call Zeus is the divine heavens. They also make sacrifices to the sun, moon, earth, fire, water and wind”. The fire cult of the Persians gained importance especially in the Cappadocia region, and the volcanic Argaios (Erciyes) mountain was very suitable for this cult. The Persian gods did not have temples in the true sense, like the gods of other religions. Yet they had sanctuaries; the sanctuaries throughout the region were attached to numerous firehouse lodges. The Greek authors called Pırhethee for these holy areas and Pıree for the priests, that is, fire-burning. In the Zend language, these priests were called Atharvan, that is, fire priests. The fire beds consisted of a stone cavern, in a high place within the sanctuary, with ash in which the fire was never extinguished. Atarvans (mugrahips), wearing long white robes behind them and woolen caps extending from their heads to the lips, would enter the sanctuary every day with a bundle of bushes and sing hymns for an hour at the foot of the fireside. Sometimes they offered drinks or slaughtered animals as sacrifices. People who offered the sacrifices used a wooden sledgehammer (billot) for this: “The use of iron was a violent memu...” The most important of the holy areas of the Persian language in Cappadocia was in Zela (Zile). Abbr. Prof. Günaltay specifically states that Starbon Zela holy area was dedicated to three popular gods, whose names she recorded as Anaitis, Omanos and Anadates. The fire-worshipping beliefs of the Persians were easily accepted by the Cappadocians. In particular, the Persians encountered a perfect geography that supported the concepts of faith. This region, covered with fire and volcanoes, was an ideal landscape for their beliefs. In this context, historians have revealed the existence of temples dedicated to the fire god dating back to the centuries IV AD.

During the Persian period, the region was called “Cappadocia” and the Satrapy (province) of Cappadocia was established here. We know that animal husbandry was very developed in Cappadocia during the Persian period, and the Persians received 1,500 horses, 2,000 mules, and 50,000 sheep as an annual tax of 360 talents. Despite the trade and money economy on the coasts, a closed land trade prevailed in the interior. The Persian state, whose economic opportunities were limited, gradually lost its power. According to Abbr. Prof. Günaltay; “During the conquest of Iran, fertile lands were given to the notables of the army; peasants were made into slaves of the land. When the Persian nobles lost their wealth due to their pomp, hunting and prosperous lifestyles, they would sell their peasants to Greek or Roman slave dealers. Only the slaves (serfs) of the temples could not be bought and sold. These events show very well that the civilization that came from Mesopotamia in ancient times, in the era of the Kültepe tablets, has therefore completely disappeared. Because of such social disasters, the Cappadocians forgot their national traditions, and they could not represent the Ionian civilization against it.”

After the young Alexander, the king of Macedonia, defeated the Persian armies in 334 and 331 BC, and destroyed the great empire, the peaceful atmosphere came to an end with the eastern expedition of Alexander the Great of Macedonia (333-323 BC), and this unrest continued to cause the constant wars of Alexander's generals and their heirs... After Cappadocia became a city of Rome in Asia in 17 AD, it was constantly impoverished due to wars and the Roman Emperor Tiberius had to order the easing of heavy taxes taken from the region in the face of the poverty that Cappadocia fell into. In the following years, a Roman governor (legat) was appointed to Cappadocia.

Both the Romans and those who came after them (Byzantines) thought of assimilating the region into their own culture and using the human potential of this vast Cappadocia region by controlling open trade routes. We understand that Ürgüp was also an important religious center in this period, and the rock churches and monasteries in its villages, towns and valleys were the episcopacy center by setting off from the Roman period rock cemeteries in the towns and villages of Ürgüp and the skirts of Avla Mountain to the east of Damsa Stream, which is considered to be the first settlement in and around Ürgüp and whose ancient name is Tomissos.

Ürgüp has many names in the historical process. It has been called Ürgüp since the first years of the Republic and Osiana (Assiana), Hagios, Prokopios in the Byzantine Period, Başhisar in the Seljuk Period and Burgut Castle during the Ottomans.

In the 11th century, Two structures belonging to this period, Altıkapılı and Wish Hill Tomb, draw attention in the center of the city in Ürgüp, which was an important castle on the roads leading to Konya and Niğde, the important cities of the Seljuk, The 'Altıkapılı Tomb', which belongs to a mother and her two daughters and was built in the 13th century, has six facades, arched windows on each side and an open top of the structure. It is thought that one of the two tombs on the Wish Hill of Ürgüp may have belonged to the Seljuk Sultan Rüknettin Kılıçarslan IV, which was built by Vecihi Pasha in 1268 and is also known as the 'Kılıçarslan Tomb' among the people, and the other may have belonged to Alaaddin Keykubat III. However, these possibilities are so low according to the researchers. Ürgüp, which joined the Ottoman lands in 1515, remained in the background for the first time in the 18th century, when the Ottoman Grand Vizier Damat İbrahim Pasha moved the office of kadi to Nevşehir (Muşkara), the city where he was born. Another important building in Ürgüp is the Greek Bath. It is understood from the Greek inscription that its foundation was laid in 1900 and it was completed in 1909 as a result of the joint work of all the people. Şemsettin Sami states that there are 70 mosques, 5 churches and 11 libraries in Ürgüp in his work on history and geography called Kamus-ül Alam, which he wrote in 1888-1900. Pancarlık, Üzengi and Keşlik valleys around Ürgüp are valleys with both historical and natural values.