Monastery of Great Lavra
The Monastery of Great Lavra is one of the 20 self-governing Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos. It is ranked first in the Athonite, the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries on the Athos peninsula.
About this building
The Monastery of Great Lavra is the most ancient and largest of all the Athos Monasteries. It was founded in 963 by Athanasius the Athonite, marking the beginning of the monastic community on the Athos peninsula. In the past, it was surrounded by a wall with 15 towers.
The katholikon or main church of the Great Lavra was built in 963 and served as a model for the katholikons of the various monasteries that were built later.
As the main monastery on the peninsula, the Great Lavra houses the largest collections of art and religious artefacts, including ecclesiastical plaques, priestly vestments and relics of numerous saints. On top of this, its library holds 2,046 manuscripts, 165 codices and 30,000 printed books.
