Nicholas II with his daughters and his sister Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna visiting the Cave Monastery of St. Klimantov in Crimea, 1913.
The monastery was located at Inkerman, a suburb of Sevastopol, and is recognized as one of the oldest cave monasteries in Crimea. The origins of the monastery is a subject of debate among historians to this day, some who believe it was founded in the 8th to 9th centuries, while others during the 14th to 15th centuries.
It was not until 1850 that the male monastery was revived by the Russian Orthodox Church and received its current name.
From 1924, the Bolsheviks began to close the churches of the monastery. In 1927 an earthquake severely damaged the Annunciation and Nicholas churches, and a decision was made to dismantle them. In 1931, services in the cave churches ceased, the monastery was closed, its property was transferred to the Sevastopol Museum Association.
In 1991, a gradual revival of the monastery began, churches and cell buildings were restored. Weekly liturgies resumed on 26th January 2019. The restoration of the monastery is ongoing, under the administration of the Simferopol Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).
