Bibliothiki-Vatopedi

The Library Tower, also called the Tower of Panagia, stands at the northeastern corner of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. The monastery itself was founded in the second half of the tenth century by three monks from Adrianople, disciples of Athanasius the Athonite, and has since grown to house over 120 brothers, many of them Cypriot. The whole compound was once shielded by a fortification wall, a moat, and eight towers. This particular tower was raised between 1512 and 1521 under Dagoe Basarab, ruler of Walachia, with its upper storey, battlements, and chapel added in the late seventeenth century. Its design echoed the towers at Morfonou and Zografou's port, though later restorations have covered its tall arched niches. For centuries it safeguarded the monastery's remarkable library of 2,050 manuscripts and its archive. Most of that collection has since moved elsewhere, and the tower itself is currently undergoing renovation, though it remains in good condition.