The Assumption Monastery of the Caves is located in Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, near Bakhchisaray

Bakhchisaray

Bakhchisaray is a town in Central Crimea, centre of the Bakhchisaray raion , best known as the former capital of the Crimean Khanate...

. It is a cave monastery

Cave monastery

A cave monastery is a monastery built in caves, with possible outside facilities. St. Anthony the Great known as the founder of monasticism lived in a cave.- List of cave monasteries :*Albania**St...

 carved out of a cliff.

The date of the monastery's foundation is disputed, although local monks assert that it originated as early as the 8th century but was abandoned when Byzantium

Byzantium

Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

 lost its hold on the region. The current monastic establishment dates back to the 15th century.

In 1921 the monastery was closed by the Soviet government. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and Ukrainian independence the monastery was reopened to the public