Dark Castle (Turkish, Karanlık Kale) in Ihlara Valley is an expansive monastery complex with 11 rooms carved into the steep rock face.
This settlement is one kilometer upstream from the middle/main entrance and across the river from Kokar Church. With no natural light in the main rooms, “Dark Castle” is an apt name for Ihlara’s largest cave complex.
The residential complex dates to around 1000 AD. The carving appears finished but has no secondary alternations. This suggests that it was only briefly inhabited. The church and side chapel were plastered but never painted. This indicates that the area was abandoned suddenly, most likely during the 1070s when Seljuk Turks took control of Anatolia. For these reasons, Dark Castle dates to around 1050 AD.
Entrance
Dark Castle has no formal courtyard area. The flat façade, with only small niches and isolated doorways, does not imitate the architecture of a built façade. A dentil arch and inscribed cross surmount the central entrance, which leads to an open barrel-vaulted corridor. Uncleared rock debris raises the floor level one meter, minimizing the original grandeur. Five arched, recessed doorways line the vestibule room. Two of the “doorways” are blind arches with flat walls. Perhaps the builders planned to carve rooms at a later time. Two other doors lead into the most important rooms—the hall and the church.
Hall
The main hall, though not large, is finely carved. Kite-shaped crosses decorate the flat roof. Each wall has a blind arcade with three deep niches. The oversized cornice (molding) displays a row of alternating triangles. The room was plastered and painted with red geometric shapes—a rare feature of Cappadocian halls.
The architecture of the back wall communicates social prestige. Similar to the main entrance on the façade, a dentil arch with a cross frames the deep niche. The main person of the complex occupied this prominent space.
The final niche on the right leads into a small cruciform room with a central dome and side burial spaces. This room looks like a chapel but does not have an apse.
Five other rooms interconnect on the left side of the complex. These undecorated, functional spaces were for cooking and sleeping.
Church
The main church follows a cross-in-square floor plan—four central pillars partition the arched cross arms and corner bays with low cross vaults. The central dome is octagonal, with a flat top. The large middle sanctuary has two small side apses. Like the vestibule entrance, dirt debris elevates the floor by one meter. This distorts the interior proportions and covers any potential floor graves. The original entrance was from the vestibule. The side entrance from the corridor was added later and provides some lighting.
An initial layer of geometric patterns was painted with red ochre directly onto the rock walls. A layer of smooth plaster covers the church but icons were never painted on the white walls. Presumably, the residents had to abandon the facility before the professional painters arrived.
Corridor
A corridor behind the right entrance leads to the church. The short hall is carved in a manner similar to that of the main hall. Six kite-shaped crosses with orange décor cover the flat roof. Blind arches decorate the upper wall above the thick molding. A deep water basin was carved on the left wall. This room functioned as the narthex, a transitional zone before the sacred rooms.
Chapel
An arched entrance from the corridor leads to the side chapel. This single-nave church space was decorated like the corridor. The front wall has simple red bars and Maltese crosses. At one point, the walls are covered with plaster. A recessed grave (arcosolium) sits at the front right of the church. The burial of this person was the main reason for the side chapel.
Purpose
This rock settlement was a Christian monastery. Monks lived here communally to cultivate lives of contemplation and prayer.
Some scholars interpret these large rock complexes (with a vestibule entrance, large hall, and side church) as elite residences of local land barons. However, the secluded setting of Dark Castle does not support this interpretation. The complex was not visually prominent, nor did it overlook an agricultural estate. The internal grave chambers off the main hall and side chapel further suggest monastic usage. The abundance of carved crosses in several rooms indicates a sacred/spiritual space.
Ihlara Valley has no secular residences but only churches. Although Dark Castle adapts design elements from residential architecture, the setting suggests a monastic function for this ancient rock settlement.