About Sümela
Clinging to a cliff in the Altındere valley, Sümela Monastery is a remarkable Black Sea religious complex of a rock church, frescoes, chapels and courtyard buildings. Its setting joins monastic retreat with dramatic mountain terrain.
History
Tradition places its foundation in the fourth century, but much of the surviving complex took shape under the Komnenoi of Trebizond and in Ottoman times. Pilgrimage centred on an icon of the Virgin Mary increased its regional importance. Ottoman privileges supported repairs and additions. Abandoned in the early twentieth century, the monastery has undergone extensive conservation. Its frescoes preserve overlapping painted programmes from different periods.
Highlights and principal structures
- Main rock church
- Frescoed chapels
- Aqueduct
- Courtyard and monks' cells
- Library
- Sacred spring
- Viewing terraces
Historical period
Byzantine–Ottoman