'Hidden chapel' in Sümela Monastery to be restored

In line with a project, a "hidden chapel" unearthed during the restoration of the Sümela Monastery, one of Turkey's religious tourism centers in the northern province of Trabzon, will be revived.

The single-nave chapel, the walls of which are embellished with frescos resembling the walls of the bedrock church in the Sümela Monastery, was registered as the "first group cultural property to be protected" in 2018.

The Sümela Monastery, which was built by carving rocks in a forest area 300 meters above the valley at the foot of Karadağ Mountain, which is overlooking Altındere Valley in Maçka district, was closed to visitors in September 2015 against the risk of rockfall and was taken under restoration.

The first stage of the restoration works, with a cost of approximately 50 million Turkish Liras and carried out by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, included the reinforcement of rocks and outer courtyard and environmental arrangement.

Within the scope of the second phase of works, the temporary reinforcement of the rock mass called the "wedge block" located above the main entrance of the monastery was completed.

In the third phase of the restoration, approximately 70 personnel, including engineers and industrial mountaineers, continued works for permanently fixing the wedge block rock mass to prevent any rockfall.

Shortly after restoration works began on the monastery, which is a first-degree archaeological site, restoration teams discovered a new chapel in the rocky area above the monastery.

The chapel, also known as the "hidden chapel" because it is located in the rocky area, can be reached by climbing the rocky area from the roof of the northern part of the Sümela Monastery and crossing a path of approximately 50...