The Monastery of St. Panteleimon (tel. +30 377 22296)
The monastery of St Panteleimon is built on the south-west side of the peninsula. The monastery, known also as a Russian one, was built at its current site in 1765, while the original building dates back to the beginning of the eleventh century.
The construction of the present monastery was carried out during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, with the financial help of the ruler of Moldo-Wallachia, Skarlatos Kallimaches. Russian monks numbered 1,000 in 1895 and 1,446 in 1903. Today, 35 monks live in the monastery.
It occupies the nineteenth rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It is coenobitic (communal monastic life). It also contains four sketes.
The monastery features the architecture of a small town, with buildings of various heights and many domes. Although destroyed by a recent fire (1968) one wing of the monastery was used as the guest quarters, with capacity of 1,000 monks.
The monastery's katholikon was built between 1812-1821 and is dedicated to St. Panteleimon. It features the same style found in all the Athonite churches. Aside from the katholikon, the monastery has many smaller chapels.
The Library is housed is a separate building in the monastery's court. It contains 1,320 Greek manuscripts and another 600 Slavonic ones, as well as 25,000 printed books.
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