The Holy Monastery of Vatopedi is an Eastern Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. Vatopedi was founded in the second half of the 10th century by three monks, Athanasius, Nicholas, and Antonius, from Adrianople, who were disciples of Athanasius the Athonite. The monastery was expanded several times during its history.
More than 120 monks live in the Vatopedi monastery. Most of them are from Cyprus.

The monastery was protected by a fortification wall with moat and by 8 towers.

In Kastrologos we present two of its towers: the tower of Panagia or Library tower (the one of this page) and the tower of Metamorphosis.

History

The tower lies at the northeastern corner of the compound. Initially it was constructed by the ruler of Walachia Dagoe Basarab during his rule (1512-1521).

The upper level with the battlements and the chapel was added in the late 17th century.

The design of the tower was similar to that of the towers of Morfonou and of the port of Zografou monastery. In this case however, the tall arched niches on the walls have been covered in later restorations.

The tower housed the unique library (with 2050 manuscripts) and the archive of the monastery. Nowadays most of the library moved to other buildings while this tower is under renovation.