With their special lighting conditions, the interiors of churches are always a great challenge. On the one hand, the room should be displayed as naturally as possible, on the other hand, one has to struggle with extreme differences in brightness. At the same time, colorful glass windows produce colored light reflections on the walls, which appear completely unnatural in the picture.
In addition to the religious aspect, churches are always an expression of zeitgeist, art and power. While the powerful were able to afford the best builders and artists of their time, there were also communities in small towns and villages that left us with evidence of great art. If a religion or its affiliates were repressed, the respective places of worship were in many cases further used and adapted to the new religion. Here you will also find examples of former churches that are now used as mosques or in other ways.
In 1458 Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, born in Corsignano in 1405, was elected Pope. He gave himself the name of Pius II and decided to rename his birthplace Pienza and to transform it into a model city of the Renaissance. The architect Bernardo Ross...
Iglesia Parroquia de San Juan Bautista aus dem Jahr 1692. Although the church dates back to 1692, significant parts of the building, such as the wooden ceiling and the gilded altar, were not built until the first half of the 18th century. One of t...
This is the Armenian church (Surp Toros) of a central Anatolian village where in old times Armenians, Greeks and Turks lived together. - If you have any information about the church or the village etc., please contact the photographer - thank you!
After the Turkish-Greek people exchange in 1923, this church was first used to store goods. In 1950 it had been changed into a prison. In the middle of the church they have built a second floor and several walls created the cells for the prisoners...
The Eski Cami-i (= old Mosque) in Özlüce had been built in 1849 as a Greek church and 1935, after the Turkish-Greek peoples exchange, it became a mosque. Like the Meryem Ana church in Nevsehir, this one has a turnable "pillar" next to the entrance...
The biggest Anatolian church seems to be forgotten somewhere in a small village. But the Orthodox Patriach Bartolomeus celebrated here a mass for 500 people from all over the world on the 27th of May 2012. - If you have any information about the ...
According to an inscription above the entrance, the church had been founded in 327 by Helena, mother of Konstantin the Great, on her way to Jerusalem. The image was shot during the restauration works in 2012.
This Armenian church from 1905 in Develi (=Everek) had been changed into a mosque (Fatih Cami). In the former Armenian quarter are still some nice old houses.
This Armenian Church was built in 1837. The dome is collapsed, but some of the frescoes are still in good conditions.
This church in Derinkuyu from 1860 had been turned into a mosque in 1949 and is called Cumhuriyet Camii. It is one of the rare examples with an iconostasis. Also the wallpaintings have not been painted over. Only religious figures were covered. Be...
Çarıklı is a small village in the province of Niğde. Nothing reminds to the former christian inhabitants, except the 19th century church, which had been turned into a mosque in 1924.
Dikilitaş, Greek Enehil, is a small village in the province of Niğde. Before the peoples exchange between Tukrey and Greece in 1923 about 200 Greek and 80 Muslim families lived here. The church had been built in the middle of the 19th century. It ...
First mentioned in 1191 this is the oldest and most important Armenian church in Anatolia. In the middle of the 19th century it was endangered to collapse and was completely rebuilt. Today it is the only Armenian Church in Anatolia which is still ...
The old Greek Panagia Church from 1886 is now called Yeni Cami (New Mosque) and serves today as a mosque. It is in the former city of Talas, which was populated by many Greek families until 1923.
Hagia Eleni is a Greek church in the village Sinassos, today called Mustafapaşa. Today this church from 1850 serves as a small museum and occasionally as a concert hall. The museum tells about the Greek history of the village and its inhabitants. ...
