The Fish Church (Balıklı Kilise) is one of the most interesting decorated interiors in the Zelve valley complex. Named for the fish reliefs carved into the rock above the entrance, it is a pre-iconoclastic church — carved and decorated before the 8th-century Byzantine period when representational religious images were forbidden and then restored. The decoration is accordingly symbolic rather than figurative: crosses, geometric patterns, and the fish motif that was an early Christian symbol.
The church is carved into the tuff face and accessed through a low doorway. Inside, the carved reliefs are well-preserved and the scale of the space is intimate — this was a place for a small community, not a great congregation. The fish motif above the door is the most photographed element, visible even to visitors who don't enter.
The Fish Church is marked on the site maps provided at the entrance to the Zelve Open Air Museum.