The historic Monastery of Panagia Soumela in Trabzon is expected to open to visitors at the end of July, as reported by ethnos.gr, in the presence of Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. At the same time, the minister will inaugurate the Hagia Sophia mosque in Trabzon, which was converted into a mosque in 2013, as well as the 14th-century women’s monastery built by Alexios Komnenos, where maintenance work was also carried out.
Sumela Monastery will open after five years of restoration work. A small part of the monastery was opened last year on May 25, 2019, and this year the Turkish Culture minister announced in May that it would be opened to the public at the end of June. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse weather conditions that lasted until the beginning of the summer in the area did not allow the opening of the monastery.