The article says it is not known when the monastery was founded. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism dates it to around 386, while William Miller credits two Athenian monks. In the 6th century Belisarius restored and enlarged it under Justinian. Alexios III (1349 to 1390) gave it its most important endowment, and a chrysobull of 1365 confirmed its autonomy.
It sits in a steep cliff about 3,900 feet (1,200 m) up, facing the Altındere valley. The Rock Church, a converted cave, is at the center, with chapels, kitchens, student rooms, a guesthouse, a library, a sacred spring and a large aqueduct. Frescoes cover the Rock Church and an adjacent chapel, and vandalism has seriously damaged them.
The monastery was abandoned after the 1923 population exchange. A restoration from 2015 to 2019 stabilized the rock with metal nets and anchors. It reopened in May 2019 as a museum.
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