The discovery was made in Taskinpasa, a rural village in the Urgup district of central Türkiye’s Nevsehir province.
The site was revealed during surface surveys conducted by art historians from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University (NEVU).
The village is already known for the 16th-century Taskinpasa Mosque and Madrasa, both well-documented architectural landmarks. However, this new discovery appears to have gone unnoticed by scholars until now.
Researchers came across the structure after local resident Mehmet Ersen allowed access to the carved-out space he had long used as a woodshed.
A cleaning effort led to the uncovering of a finely crafted mihrab—an ornamental prayer niche indicating the direction of Mecca—suggesting the space once served as a place of worship.
Assoc. Prof. Savas Marasli, part of the academic team, said that This is a 600-year-old structure that has survived by being hidden. It displays the ornamental and technical characteristics that continued from the Seljuks through the principalities period.
Initial observations suggest that the space may have served both religious and domestic functions. Although the primary purpose remains uncertain, the presence of a mihrab provides strong evidence that it was used for Islamic prayer at some point.
