The Sumela Monastery is a monastery of the Christian Orthodox religion from Byzantine times, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, located at Melá Mountain, part of the Pontic Mountains range, within the Trabzon Province of the Republic of Turkey.
As it is along the Black Sea seaside of the many historic buildings and places, the monastery was founded in the 4th century during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I; however, with the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the Sumela Monastery was abandoned. Even though in the past it fell into ruin several times, the monastery was restored over and over again by the different ruling emperors.
Standing on a steep cliff at an altitude of 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above sea level, the highest building structure is some 300 meters (984 feet) high, which follows the traditional monastic architecture. After 1923, the monastery served only as a museum for people to gaze on the rich iconostasis, which is particularly impressive; nevertheless, on 15 August 2010, an Orthodox divine liturgy was allowed to take place within the monastery.
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The main structures that comprise the Sumela Monastery are the Rock Church, several chapels, a kitchen, student rooms, a guesthouse, a library, and a sacred spring revered by Eastern Orthodox Christians. There is a large aqueduct constructed against the side of the cliff at the entrance, which supplied most of the water to the people who were living within the compound.
However, the central feature of the grandiose monastery is the cave, which was converted into a church, the walls of the adjacent chapel of which are decorated with frescoes dating back to the time of Alexios III of Trebizond. The most interesting are the walls that are one of the most decorated ones, not just on the inside, but also on the outside.
Still, with the ongoing restoration, the monastery surely gets the substantial outlook it needs to represent more of the previous look, which was quite intriguing and beautiful. With many visitors, the monastery can get very busy, but the surroundings make it something extra special, since it is located deep in the mountain with lush forest.
