Located at an altitude of 300 meters at the foot of Karadağ, the Sumela Monastery welcomes visitors as a meeting point of nature, history and culture. This monastery, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, is opening its doors to visitors again after restoration and rock reclamation works.
The restoration work of the wall paintings carried out by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the Main Rock Church located in the Sumela Monastery is attracting great interest. As part of the restoration work launched in May 2024, a detailed study is being carried out on 5 scenes on the exterior of the church.
In these works carried out by the Trabzon Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory Directorate teams, the “Last Supper of Jesus” scene on the exterior, which had been damaged over time, was restored to its former glory.
Restorers Şenol Aktaş stated that they worked meticulously to ensure that the Sümela Monastery offers a better visual to visitors. Providing information about the restoration process, Aktaş emphasized that they restored the frescoes as close to their original state as possible by removing damage such as scratches and vandalism marks.
Restorer Beytullah Arslan stated that the interventions they were made in accordance with the documentation, paint and plaster analysis, and that they gave importance to the protection and restoration of the works by using materials suitable for originality.
Stating that the restoration work will continue, Aktaş and Arslan said that similar work will be carried out in other parts of the monastery in the future.
