Sümela Monastery

The Sümela Monastery (Greek: Παναγία Σουμελά, Turkish: Sümela Manastırı) stands at the foot of a steep cliff facing the Altındere valley which is in the Trazbzon Province on the Black Sea. The monastery was founded in the year 386 and it reached its present form in the 13th century. Monks and travellers continued to journey there throughout the years and the monastery was extremely popular up until the 19th century.

The Monastery was seized for a time by the Russians during the occupation of Trabzon between 1916 - 1918. It was finally abandoned in 1923, following the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey after the Treaty of Lausanne.