Mikhailo-Afonsky Monastery

The Mikhailo-Afonskaya Zakubanskaya hermitage was founded in 1877 on the lands beyond the Belaya, away from the main roads. By 1912 the monastery centre had already been built up with stone churches — the Assumption cathedral, the Trinity church and the church of Archangel Michael; photographs of those years survive in archives. In the Soviet years the monastery shared the fate of most monasteries of the North Caucasus: closure and decades of oblivion. Today the hermitage is active again; the brethren welcome pilgrims and guests, and restored churches stand above the village of Pobeda. The road to the monastery is part of the experience: the monastery hides in wooded folds of land beyond Pobeda, and a long staircase — locals call it the staircase of two hundred and twenty-five steps — climbs up to it. From the upper viewpoint the view takes in roofs and domes among the greenery.