The rock-cut monastic church of `Hagios Nikolaos' / 'St Nicholas'
[Photos]

District of Vize, modern Kıyıköy (Greek Medeia or Medea / Turk. Midye). Rock-cut church of `Hagios Nikolaos' (detail of the exterior), outside the northwest walls of Medeia. The impressive monastic complex with its underground source of holy water (hagiasma), was discovered in 1846 on the banks of the Plesios. Dating to the 6th or the 7th-9th c. (probably during the period of Iconoclasm), it is similar in type to the rock-cut churches in Cappadocia, as are all other such shrines in Eastern Thrace. The church was restored by the Metropolitan Matthaios in 1856 and revived as a monastery with the addition of an exterior wing. It was in operation until 1922.