The New Athos Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located in Abkhazia, at the foot of Mount Athos. In former times, the monastery was one of the largest spiritual centers in the Caucasus, and today it is one of the region's main attractions.
In 1874, the tsarist government allocated the territory of today's New Athos and its surroundings to the monks of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.
In 1875, the monks began building the monastery. The area was wild and desolate, and it required titanic efforts to clear impenetrable thickets, level rocks, fill chasms, and, essentially by themselves, erect majestic churches and residential buildings on the cliffs, while also cultivating the soil, making it suitable for farming. The monastery consisted of two parts: a lower and an upper part. By 1884, the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God had been erected on the seashore.
a hotel for pilgrims, outbuildings, a school for Abkhaz boys.
From the lower part of the monastery to the upper one, a stone road is laid out, called the “Path of Sinners.”
Cypress trees are planted along the road, hence its second name, Cypress Alley.
The trail offers interesting views of the monastery and the city.
The last meters of the climb
Construction of the upper monastery building, which has a quadrangular plan, was begun in 1884 and completed by 1911.
The monastery complex consists of five neo-Byzantine churches, a bell tower, and a refectory. One of the churches is the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, which marks the beginning of the monastery grounds. A richly carved gateway to the complex passes through this church.
In 1888, Emperor Alexander III visited the monastery and laid the foundation stone for St. Panteleimon's Cathedral. It is crowned with five domes; the central one is 40 meters high. The cathedral is 53.3 meters long and 33.7 meters wide. It is designed in the Neo-Byzantine style, common in Russian church architecture of the period.
At the corners of the monastery there are churches, the largest of which is named after the Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
Under the bell tower there is a refectory for 1000 people; a hospital was adjacent to it, and then a laundry.
Source: travel.ru