Story
The story of Sümela Monastery
Clinging to a slope 1,150 metres above sea level, Sümela Monastery stands on Kara Hill, known in ancient Greek as Mela. This Greek Orthodox monastery and church complex in Trabzon's Maçka district, inside Altındere Valley National Park, was built in AD 386 in the style of Cappadocian churches. A legend told among the Black Sea Greeks says two monks from Athens, Barnabas and Sophronios, had the same dream: they saw where an icon of Mary holding the infant Jesus, made by Saint Luke, was to be found.
Unaware of each other, they came to Trabzon by sea, met, shared their dreams and laid the foundations of the first church. While he was a prince in Trabzon, Sultan Selim I gave the monastery two large candlesticks. After the 1923 population exchange it stood empty for a while; today it is a museum.
In 2010, on 15 August, the first liturgy in 88 years was held here. Step inside and look for the frescoes covering the church walls.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Trabzon
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- Fatih Mosque, TrabzonThe Fatih Mosque is a mosque in Ortahisar district of Trabzon Province, Turkey.
- Hagia Sophia, TrabzonHagia Sophia is a formerly Greek Orthodox church that was converted into a mosque following the conquest of Trabzon by Mehmed II in 1461. It is located in Trabzon, northeastern Turkey.
- Atatürk KöşkThe Atatürk Pavilion in the Soğuksu district is a white summer mansion in a pine grove, built by the banker Konstantin Kabayanidis. Atatürk stayed here in 1937; today it is a museum.
- Altındere Valley National ParkAltındere Valley National Park, established on September 9, 1987, is a national park in northeastern Turkey. The national park is located in Maçka district of Trabzon Province.
- UzungölUzungöl (lit. 'Long Lake'), or in the local Romeyka language: Şeraho, is a lake situated to the south of the city of Trabzon, in the Çaykara district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Uzungöl is also the name of the village on the lake's coast.