Cliff hanger: Sümela Monastery, founded in the 4th century, is a spectacular sight -- hanging 1,000 feet above a river valley in eastern Turkey. Hasan Tascan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images ...

The monastery is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. between June and September; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. between October and May. A short film about the renovation is screened in one of the old monk’s cells.

In 2015, the Sumela monastery was shut for restoration and reopened to tourists in 2019. A liturgy to mark the Feast Day of the Virgin Mary was allowed in 2020 and 2021.

The ancient Sumela Monastery in Türkiye’s Black Sea province of Trabzon province offers nature, history and culture to its visitors and has hosted nearly 600,000 visitors, a Turkish official ...

SUMELA, Turkey—The Turkish government allowed Christians to pray Sunday at a spectacular and politically sensitive Greek Orthodox monastery for the first time since the country's creation ...

Orthodox Christians held the first Mass in almost 90 years at an ancient monastery on the side of a Turkish mountain Sunday, after the government allowed worship there in a gesture toward religi ...

At least 1,500 pilgrims, including from Greece and Russia, traveled to the Byzantine-era monastery of Sumela for the service […] Skip to content. All Sections. 68°F. Friday, June 28th 2024 ...

Founded in the 4th century, Sümela is a gravity-defying marvel, hanging nearly 1,000 feet over a wooded valley in Turkey, that today attracts thousands of religious pilgrims.