Sümela Monastery

A large-scale investigation has been initiated after the emergence of footage showing a band dancing to electronic music at a former Orthodox monastery in Turkey's northeast.

The inquiry includes officials of the Trabzon Governor's Office and the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, who reportedly allowed the video clip shooting at the Sümela Monastery.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos has sent a letter to Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy denouncing the ministry's move to desecrate one of Eastern Orthodoxy's most sacred shrines, the monastery of Soumela in Trebizond, Turkey, by granting permission to film a television ad with frenzied young people dancing as a DJ on screen plays music.

Experts, including professional industrial climbers, are conducting a difficult and painstaking work in a new round of renovation at the Sümela Monastery in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

The Sümela Monastery stands carved into the steep cliffside of the mountain 300 meters above the picturesque Altındere Valley and is one of the most important tourist attractions in Trabzon.

The Sümela Monastery, the country's one of the most important religious tourism centers, has been closed once again due to the risk of falling rocks from the nearby hill during an ongoing renovation process.

The Sümela Monastery in the Black Sea province of Trabzon was reopened to visitors on July 1 after the completion of more than five years of restoration works.

Turkey will reopen Sümela Monastery in the Black Sea province of Trabzon to visitors on July 1 with its new sections after the completion of over five years of restoration work.

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.

Located in the Trabzon province, the Çal Cave is among the most important tourism destinations of the eastern Black Sea region. (AA Photo)

Sümela Monastery, located in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, was visited by more than 123,000 people in 99 days.

The monastery, one of the most important faith tourism centers of Turkey, was closed in 2015 due to the risk rocks falling from the nearby Karadağ Mountain posed.

The Sümela Monastery, located in the Maçka district of the Black Sea province of Trabzon, has been visited by around 45,000 local and international tourists since being reopened to worship on July 28, local officials have said.