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Sumela Monastery

Also known as Panagia Sumela

Sumela Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery built into a cliff in the Pontic Mountains near Maçka, south of Trabzon in north-eastern Turkey. Dedicated to the Virgin, it was by tradition founded in the 4th century and flourished under the emperors of Trebizond, who granted it lands and privileges. Its monks left in 1923, and it is now a museum where an annual liturgy has been held again since 2010.

Sumela Monastery
Image: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Empire of Trebizond

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sumela Monastery. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sumela-monastery
MLA
“Sumela Monastery.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sumela-monastery. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Sumela Monastery.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sumela-monastery.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sumela Monastery’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sumela-monastery (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻