The valley-gorge of the Melendiz Suyu river between Ihlara and Selimiye takes its name from ancient Peristrema (Belisirma as it now is). With the exception of the Açikel Aga Kilisesi (Church of Our Lord with the Open Hand), the numerous churches in and around the village are decorated with post-iconoclastic paintings (10th century onwards). They
include the Ala Kilise (White Church, superb facade), the Bahattin Samanligi Kilisesi (Bahattin's Church with a Granary, scenes in dark colors of the Life of Christ), the Direkli Kilise (Columned Church, pictures of saints and martyrs), the Karagedikli Kilise (trachyte and brick Church of the Black Collar, remains of frescos) and the later Kirkdamalti Kilise (Church under 40 Roofs/St George's Church, endowed between 1283 and 1295 by the Emir Basileios and his wife). The latter church is proof that even towards the end of the 13th century there was still a Christian community here, though by then the area was part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Konya. In the 19th century more churches were hollowed out of the cliffs by the Greeks.