The end of iconoclasm (a period of Byzantine history in the 8th and 9th century during which there was an imperial effort to purify the Church by removing religious images and icons) in 843 AD ushered into a period of rapid growth for monasteries across the Byzantine empire. The monks, who had been particularly persecuted during the previous period, were now able to establish new monasteries and decorate their churches with ambitious pictorial schemes. The mountainous regions became attractive and were rapidly colonized by monastic complexes. Some monasteries had imperial support but there were also countless others that were less pretentious but equally popular among the people.