The impressive facade of the Büyük Kilise Camii (Mosque of the Great Church) is the first major building after the Monastery Valley ticket office. Built as the Church of St Gregory of Nazianzus in AD 385, it was restored in 1835 and turned into a mosque following the population exchange in 1924. St Gregory (AD 330–90) grew up locally and became a theologian, patriarch and one of the four Fathers of the Greek Church.
Check out the wooden sermon desk that was reputedly a gift from a Russian tsar. It is quite plain inside but there are plans to uncover the whitewashed frescoes.
