Behind Trabzon lie the most beautiful mountains where, at the start of the Byzantine era, a large number of monasteries were established. The most important was Sumela which hangs off the face of a mountain at 1200 metres in a beautiful but very misty situation. There’s almost always cloud and rain as we found out yesterday.
The name Sumela is a Pontic Greek abbreviation of ‘Virgin of the Black Rock’. She’s been venerated here since at least AD 385 when Barnabas, an Athenian monk, discovered an icon on a shelf in a cave. It was said to be painted by St Luke. A sixth-century monastery grew up around the cave holding the icon although what we saw was mostly thirteenth and fourteenth century. The icon has, apparently, been responsible for countless miracles.
Sumela was evacuated in 1923 after the founding of the new Republic of Turkey and the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey. Six years later, the monastery was destroyed by fire. One of the monks came back in 1931 and took the buried icon and other treasures off to a new monastery of Sumela in northern Greece where it now resides.
All those monks must have been both fit and agile: we climbed up and down lots of extremely steep and slippy steps to get to the monastery – no handrails or anything sissy like that. I was really pleased to be wearing my boots:
The most terrible graffiti damage has been done to the lower frescoes, while many faces have been scratched out. To make matters worse, our guide book tells us that sophisticated art thieves were caught hacking away large slabs of the frescoves in 1983. But the higher ones are not in such bad condition, probably because they are way out of reach and carrying a step ladder up and down those steep steps in order to deface the frescoes wasn’t quite worth it.
There was a nice series of Adam and Eve which we liked:
Inside there were some high-up frescoes as well which had not been damaged:
Because of all the mist and rain, we didn’t get to see the classic view of the monastery but here it is, taken from a free photo library :
Was it worth the journey? Yes, for the atmosphere and scenery – and here’s Sue to prove it with a warming cup of Turkish coffee!
This looks absolutely stunning and well worth the climb and slippery steps – glad you made all the way to the Turkish coffee 🙂
Yes, it was definitely worth it though M really, really hates a slippery slope or flights of stairs going down ( she’s fine if they’re going up but, you know, the thing about stairs is they go up and down sooner or later).
Those frescoes are very very special – not just the fact they actually survived all the tribulations, but the unusual content and early visual style. Well done you two for all the effort to get these shots. I’d love to see more offline after your trip – I’m guessing you took dozens of photos. Thank you!
Yes, yes, dozens if not hundreds of photos. The ceiling frescoes were particularly vivid – I love the clutch ( possibly not the collective noun) of angels – the movement and colour both lovely…
Your own photos of the monastery are extraordinarily beautiful. Is this Sue’s phone again? So impressed.
Not my phone this time though I did do my best taking pictures of the frescos before deciding that M needed to see them for herself ( she’d decided to stay on an upper terrace because the downward steps were too challenging – I went back and helped her make the descent, largely by pretending to be a walking stick ).
Beautiful photos – v glad they were not accompanied by more pics of trips to a pharmacy!
Hope that security to prevent further theft/graffiti is now in place, really stunning frescoes
Yes, beautiful but hazardous ( and wet) site – who knows about future security? Turkey feels just a tiny bit ambivalent about Christian relics… M is convinced they’re building an extra minaret on Hagia Sofia ( the most beautiful Byzantine church of Constantinople) now a functioning mosque)
The frescos looking amazing! Wonderful! What a site and sight!
They are lovely and this was the first rock church we’d seen on this trip ( there are more in Cappadocia).
What a brilliant if slightly scarily located place. Not sure the original monks were very welcoming given the access! The frescoes are lovely.
No, welcoming wouldn’t be the word I’d choose! This was way up the mountainside and definitely designed to discourage visitors – I love these churches though carved into the rock – made me think of India..
What a stunning place and the mist is very atmospheric. Had it been further west I fear you could have got a hot air balloon over it.
Yes and perhaps sunny clear weather and drone shots! I liked the mist and gloom and we deliberately visited at lunchtime when it was pretty quiet – the valley where the monastery lies is very beautiful with great torrents of rushing water and loads of birch and young oak trees.
Wonderful photos
Love the frescos
Yes, very lively frescoes though not all in great shape – the angels particularly fine I think
I liked seeing all those frescoes.
They were special – full of movement and colour