Selime: The Song of Stone and the Vacuum of Faith (part 2)

Dust of Ages

A story that looks back at you through the dust.

Entrance to the Labyrinth

Selime doesn’t just stand on the edge of the Ihlara Valley — it feels as if it materialized from nothing, from the vacuum of faith and stone itself. Entering it, you sense that you’re stepping not into a monastery but into a time resonator: the walls absorb sound, the air pulls the light inward, and it seems as though the rock itself sings. Each cell is a note in a symphony without a conductor — only eternity keeps the rhythm.

Past Empires

Selime emerged in the 9th–10th centuries, during an age when Byzantine monks sought isolation. The tuff cliffs allowed for entire complexes to be carved — refectories, cells, cathedrals, kitchens.

Empires came and went, but the monastery remained outside politics, outside time. The stone carries the memory of every era, and the wind, passing through arches and cracks, whispers stories that no chronicle ever wrote.

And among these stories — a strange pair of figures carved on the arch of one of the chambers: two creatures with curved necks, like mythical guardians watching over a gateway into another layer of reality. They look like dinosaurs, though they’re more likely late-antique symbols of strength — lions, bulls, or fantastic beasts that bridged ancient pagan imagery with Christian iconography.

These creatures stand on either side of a vertical axis — as mirrors, as dualities of faith and doubt, light and vacuum. It seems the monks left them there for a reason: perhaps as a warning that even within the monastery, chaos always lives — tamed, but never defeated.

Fragments of Now

Today, Selime is a museum without walls. Some cells have collapsed, cliffs have cracked, but that very ruin creates the sense of cosmic emptiness.

The place still holds traces of life — monks’ inscriptions on the walls, fragments of frescoes, crumbs of history. Tourists walk the trails, but each step feels like participating in an ancient symphony of stone and faith.

Sometimes someone notices those “dinosaurs” — and smiles. But the longer you look, the less funny it seems. The stone feels like it remembers those who believed before you — and those who doubted louder.

Shadows at the Edge of Mind

In Selime, you realize that faith can be vacuum-like — existing where there is no sound, no light, only space for thought. The stone became a witness to the human search for meaning, and the emptiness within it — a mirror of our eternal thirst.

The monastery whispers: “Believe, even if no one hears.” It’s the philosophy of decay, eternity, and solitude all at once.

And perhaps those stone beasts were the first philosophers of the monastery. They have seen it all — prayers, oblivion, returnings — and remain silent because they know: faith is not in words but in the stone that endured.

How Did We Get Here

The easiest way to reach Selime is through Guzelyurt or Nevsehir. You can walk through the Ihlara Valley or drive to the parking lot and then climb up to the cliffs.

Shoes — comfortable. Water — essential. Your phone — better off for at least an hour. What matters here is attention: every movement, every ray of light, every sound of wind becomes part of your personal experience of the vacuum of faith.

Echo in the Void

I stood in a cell where monks once prayed and felt the stone singing for itself. The wind entered through the cracks, mixing with my breath.

Selime is not a place for photo shoots but a place for dialogue with eternity. Here you don’t hear stories — you hear yourself refracted through stone and emptiness.

And perhaps, if you stare long enough at those stone guardians, you might catch their shadows stirring in the dusty light — as if time itself were trying to speak again.

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