The church is located inside Goreme Open Air Museum and has a simple plan.

Elmali Church (Goreme)

Under the preserved frescos, geometric decorations from the icono-classic period had been revealed. According to those decorations, it is understood that the church had been constructed in the 2nd period. The frescos depict the portions of the life of Jesus. The colors used in the church are blue, red and its shades, brown, yellow and white and the details of the clothing in the frescos are stated.

The baptism of Jesus, The crucifixion, the alteration, the last supper, the resurrection of Lazarus, the ascend of Jesus to the skies are the major themes depicted at the frescos. The architectural elements such as pillars and pillar titles display the depictions of the saints stated in the bible and some of the prophets. The church attains the name from the apple a garden surrounding the church and the frescos inside the church is dated to the 2nd century.

It has nine domes, four columns, a closed Greek cross plan and three absissae. Its main entrance is from the southern direction, and the entrance can be made through a tunnel opened from the northern side.

The first ornaments of the Elmalı Church are, as in the case of the St. Basil and the St. Barbara Churches, the cross and geometric motifs painted directly on the wall with red paint. The church is dated to the mid of the 11th century and beginning of the 12th century.

The Scenes: the Deesis, the birth, the worship of three astrologers, the baptism, the resurrection of Lazarus, the conversion, the entrance to Jerusalem, the last dinner, the betrayal, Christ on Golgota way, Christ on the cross, the burying of Christ, Christ’s going down to hell, the women beside the empty grave, Christ going to the sky and the saints. Furthermore, the hospitality of the Prophet Abraham and the burning three Jewish Young men in oven taken from the Torah are pictured.

The area is a famous and popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic and cultural features.

The region is southwest of the major city Kayseri, which has airline and railroad (railway) service to Ankara and Istanbul.

The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to 3 million years ago (late Miocene to Pliocene epochs). The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. The volcanic deposits are soft rocks that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches, monasteries. Göreme became a monastic center between 300—1200 AD. First period settlement in Göreme reaches to the Roman period from Christianity. Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, houses and churches carved into rocks till to Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valley carries the mystical side of history today. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. It is a complex comprising more than 30 rock-carved churches and chapels containing some superb frescoes, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries.