Gülşehir

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Gülşehir is a town in central Turkey, in Nevşehir Province, near the Göreme fairy chimneys. It is the seat of Gülşehir District and has about 12,500 residents (2022). The town lies on the south bank of the Kızıl River, about 20 kilometers from Nevşehir, at an elevation of 885 meters. In ancient times it was called Zoropassos by the Hittites and later Arapsun. Nearby you can still see rocks and inscriptions from the Hittites. In the Ottoman era a grand vizier built a külliye (mosque, madrasah and fountain) here when the town had only about 30 houses. A late 19th-century census showed a mix of Muslims, Greeks and Armenians living in the area. Gülşehir was part of Aksaray Province (1920–1933) and Niğde Province (1933–1954) before getting its current name in 1948. A local tourist attraction is pottery made inside an artificial cave carved into the rock.