Vazelon Monastery

Vazelon Monastery (Greek: Μονή Βαζελώνος, romanized: Moni Vazelonos) is a ruined Christian building located in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was built in 270, the ruin is 40 km (25 mi) south of Trabzon. First Justinian I, a ruler of the Byzantine Empire, ordered the monastery to be repaired in 565, and it was renovated multiple times until the 20th century when it had to be abandoned due to the Pontian-Greek genocide and the Greco-Turkish population exchange in 1923. The current structures date from the rebuilding in 1410. Vazelon Monastery was a center of Greek Orthodox life in the Matzouka/Maçka area, retaining some control over surrounding villages until its disestablishment. Frescoes on the north outer walls of the church that depict Heaven, Hell and the Last Judgement have remained for centuries. The monastery was attacked multiple times throughout its history. In the 500s, Sassanid Persian invaders raided the monastery and destroyed parts of it. They also killed the resident monks. Years later, during World War I, Turkish forces attacked the monastery. Vazelon was abandoned in 1923 following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Vandalism has contributed to the monastery's dilapidated state. Few items remain from the Vazelon's archive. Some documents are now located at the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg, while others are kept by the Turkish Historical Society (TTK). Historians have used these documents to learn about life in the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Trebizond.