Sozopol

Sozopol occupies a peninsula on the western shore of the Black Sea. Founded by Greek settlers as Apollonia Pontica, it grew into a trading port famous for its sanctuary of Apollo and a colossal bronze statue of the god. In Christian times it became known as Sozopolis, the city of salvation. Across the water on Saint John's Island stood an important monastery with its own library and scriptorium.

The Ottomans took Sozopol in 1453. The island monastery survived into the seventeenth century, when Cossack raiders used it as a refuge; Ottoman forces destroyed it in 1629, and the monks took books and church treasures to Heybeliada near Constantinople. During the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828–1829, Sozopol briefly served as a Russian naval base. After the peace and the withdrawal of Russian forces, many Christians from the town and surrounding district emigrated to lands north of the Black Sea.