The ancient Sümela Monastery in Türkiye’s northern province of Trabzon province offers visitors nature, history and culture and has hosted nearly 600,000 visitors since 2021, a Turkish official said.

The monastery occupies the top spot among local and foreign visitors, carved into rocks at 300 meters (984 feet) above the Altindere Valley of Trabzon’s Maçka district.

"After the restoration, the monastery reopened on July 1, 2021, and welcomed 597,742 visitors until June 29, 2023, despite being closed for certain periods," Tamer Erdoğan, the director of the provincial directorate of culture and tourism in Trabzon, told Anadolu Agency (AA) recently.

Erdoğan noted that the monastery hosted 153,994 tourists in 2021 when it reopened and 339,457 visitors in 2022.

He further said that the monastery had welcomed 104,291 visitors in the first six months of this year, bringing the total number of domestic and foreign tourists between July 1, 2021, and June 29, 2023, to 597,742.

The exact date of the construction of the iconic structure, also known as Mother Mary or Virgin Mary, is not precise. However, several studies point to it being founded by monks from Athens sometime around A.D. 386, during the reign of Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

Highlighting the monastery’s history, Erdoğan said, "The Sümela Monastery, listed on UNESCO’s tentative heritage list, is visited by numerous domestic and foreign tourists throughout the year, and the number of visitors is increasing yearly."

Erdoğan emphasized that the coincidence of the Eid al-Adha holiday with the tourism season prompted many people to include Trabzon in their holiday plans, noting that they expect the number of visitors would surge compared to the previous year during the holiday period.

"The restoration works of the monastery have been completed, and conservation and documentation studies on the frescoes on the exterior surface of the main rock church inside the monastery are ongoing," he said.

Underlining that Altındere Valley National Park, where the monastery is located, is a natural wonder, Erdoğan noted that the increasing interest in the region was observed after installing special lighting in the monastery complex.

"With its rich flora and fauna, the national park, which has the most beautiful natural scenery in the Eastern Black Sea Region, covers an area of 4,800 hectares. The interior, exterior, aqueducts and environmental lighting of the Sümela Monastery created a sparkling image. The local people and tourists also highly appreciated the visual beauty that emerged. After the lighting, we observed an increase in interest in Sümela Monastery," he said.

One of the leading touristic locations in the Eastern Black Sea area, the monastery was reopened for religious practice on Aug. 15, 2010, with permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, following decades-long hiatus.

Hüseyin Çiçek, who went on a tour of the region with his family from Bursa, stated that they came to Sümela Monastery for the first time and said: "Anatolia has a rich cultural history, and thankfully the great Republic of Türkiye is claiming this cultural heritage with its right. It signifies our nation’s tolerance and respect for history."

"We wanted to see the historical beauties of this place while we were here. It was very nice and enjoyable," said another visitor Cihan Durukhan, who came for a visit from southern Gaziantep province.

Nino Tavartgiladze, who came to the region with a tour from neighboring Georgia, noted it was his first visit to the Sümela Monastery and said: "We loved this place; it is wonderful. We recommend it to everyone."

The world-famous Sümela Monastery, one of Türkiye’s important religious tourism sites, was closed to visitors in September 2015 due to rockfall risk.

The restoration of the monastery complex began in February 2016 and was completed after landscaping, geological and geotechnical research and rock strengthening.

The monastery was briefly opened in July 2021 after restoration, but due to the danger posed by rocks dangling above it, the site was briefly closed between November 2021 and May 2022.