Şebinkarahisar Virgin Mary Monastery
Located 11 kilometers east of Şebinkarahisar District in the Kayadibi Quarter of Sarıyer Village, the Monastery of the Virgin Mary belongs to the Byzantine Period. It is estimated that the structure, which is reminiscent of Trabzon Sumela Monastery with its construction in a large cavity in the middle of a steep rock, was built under the influence of this monastery.
Although smooth cut stone is used in places in the monastery where many building complexes coexist, the building was actually built from uneven local rubble stones.
In front of the monastery, there is a water cistern on the left and a fountain made of cut stone on the right. The monastery has a total of thirty-two rooms decorated with paintings on the walls. On the second level, which is accessed by stairs, there are four equal-sized student rooms side by side. At the top is the church carved into the rocks. Each nave has an apse.
The monastery, where dormitory, classroom, church, dining hall, fountain and other building complexes are together, was restored and opened to tourism by the Giresun Governorship and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2013 and 2014, while it was largely destroyed. The monastery, which is a first degree natural and archaeological site, was declared an archaeological site by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2014 and opened to tourism.
