THE Fate fireplacesin Turkish Peri Bacalarıthere are great rock formations with a tapered shape: they can have the shape of a fireplace, mushroom or conical. They are located on the plateau of the Anatolian peninsula and are the result of the eruption of volcanoes now extinct Erciyes and Hasan Which, between 30 and 10 million years ago, began to erupt. The stratifications of volcanic material – tuff, basalt and Andesite – They were then eroded by the wind and the descent of the alluvial waters, until they take the fascinating shape that is now admired, also with the characteristic hot air balloon trips.
Inhabited over the centuries also by Christian monks and populations on the run from persecutions, the fireplaces are the protagonists of Stories and legends of local folklorewhich imagines them inhabited by fairies, or as giants transformed into stone. Rock formations of this type are also found in other areas of the world, including in Italy, where we find – for example in the Renon plateau, but also in the Brunico area and on Lake Iseo – the pyramids of land. In 1985 they were declared World Heritage ofUnesco.
The geological formation of fairies
THE Fate fireplaces I am, in fact, lava stratifications. 30 million years ago, in what is now the Cappadocia, there were two active volcanoes: the mountain Erciyes (3916 m) and the Monte Hasan (3,268 m).
EXTINS TODAY – For about 8,000 years! – The two volcanoes played a fundamental role in the formation of fairies. Erciyes and Hasanin fact, have erupted for millions of years, issuing tuff, basalt and Andesite which, thanks to the wind and hot air, have scattered throughout a radius of over 100 km.
These volcanic ash formations formed precisely by different materials are stratified throughout the area And they were then shaped by atmospheric agents – rain, wind and descent of alluvial waters – over millions of years.
In particular, it is fundamental The action of flood waters which descend from the slopes and cause the cracks of the rocks: in the course of the millennia, the slope then withdraws, and the bodies of conical or tapered shape emerge, depending on the type of stratification that is deposited and toevolution of erosion.
Because the Fate fireplaces are called that
The legends that narrate the formation of fairly different fireplaces, all united by wonderful fascination that this show has given men for millennia.
It is said, for example, that the fireplaces were once inhabited by fairies and other characters belonging to the people of magical creatures: at night they left their stone homes for dance under the moon and the stars.
And again, it is said that A man fell in love with a fairybut their union was prohibited: the queen of the fairies got very angry, and transformed all the fairies into pigeons. In this way, humans could take care of their loved creatures: in the fireplaces, in fact, there are many pigeons.
Another legend says that the fairies did not live inside the fireplaces, but in the air and in the windwhere they left scie of light that modeled the rock Up to create the shape we know today.
Then there is a story of folklore that does not feature the fairies, but i giants: It is said that these creatures have made the gods angry so much that they are transformed into great rock formations.
All these legends are actually born, from the fact that in the centuries in which the fireplaces were inhabited by monks and Christian populations on the run, they were seen columns of smoke rise from the rocks, which were believed to be uninhabited: Thus these stories are born, which still populate this unique area in the world.
Where to see the fireplaces of the fairies
There Cappadocia It is a region located in the center of the Türkiye: The faults of the fairies, specifically, are found on what was once the Silk Road, the rich route of streets and passages by land and via water that connected Asia and Mediterranean. The wealth of history, art and architecture that permeates this place is the result of the passage of ancient peoples – Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans – up to the definitive control of Ottomans and Byzantines, and the different Cultures and populations who, over the centuries, have left their track.
In the Göreme Valleythe area between Urgup, Avanos and Nevshei It is full of fireplaces: just here stands what was once the volcanic chain formed by Erciyes and Hasannow extinct, whose activity has given rise to these stratifications with an original shape.
There Devrent valleyalso called imagination valleyis located in this area, and connects the Cities Avanos and Urgup. Its name is due to the forms that rocks take thanks to erosion: animals, humans, imaginative creatures, created by time and wind.
There Pasabang valleyon the other hand, is also known as Valley of the monksbecause inhabited by Christian monks who fled to religious persecutions and took refuge in the fireplaces.
In Underground city of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu It can in fact be observed how i Fate fireplaces They have become refuges and homes dug inside the tuff. Starting from the 14th century, the Christians who lived in this area dug in the tuff to hide and escape Mondole persecutions and subsequently to the Ottoman ones.
Housing, common spaces, churches, places of community aggregation, but also stables and spaces for cattle, warehouses: a real labyrinthine world, made livable thanks to ventilation systems, which does not see the sunlight, right inside – indeed, below – i Fate fireplaces. The underground cities were definitively abandoned in the 1920s, therefore relatively recently, and rediscovered starting from 1963, and then opened to the public only in recent years.
