Aladzha Monastery

Aladzha Monastery occupies chambers cut into a limestone cliff in Golden Sands Nature Park. Its medieval monastic community is associated with the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Two levels contain spaces for worship, accommodation, meals and burial, including cells, a refectory, a kitchen, a chapel and an ossuary. The Shkorpil brothers began systematic investigation in the late nineteenth century. Nearby caves known as the Catacombs yielded fifth- and sixth-century material, but those finds should not be used to date every part of the medieval monastery. Its original Christian dedication remains unknown. The community declined after the medieval period, while a museum presentation now helps visitors read the surviving rooms alongside their archaeological history.