Kuştul Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery, stands near Şimşirli village in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province, about 30 kilometers southeast of Trabzon. It was founded in 752. At its peak it was a complex of 187 rooms and cells, with a large library of over 7,000 volumes.
It was depopulated in 1203, after about 450 years of use, and no monks lived there for two centuries. It reopened in 1398 with permission from Manuel III, Emperor of Trebizond. It was partly destroyed by robbers in 1462, lost many possessions in fires in 1483, and was placed under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1501.
Fire damaged it in 1906, and it was later restored. It closed on January 17, 1923. Only the base of the church survives today.
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