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 Metamorphosis (the one of this page) and the tower of Panagia or Library tower.

History

The tower was built, most probably in the 12th century. (Perhaps earlier than that.) It was reconstructed in the 16th century and again in the 19th century in 1880, when it was covered by a gray plaster layer that altered the byzantine image of the monument.

Initially the tower stood alone, isolated from the rest of the compound. Around the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century the south wings of the monastery expanded and were joined to the tower. In 1864, the huge external stair case was added.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

This is the tallest tower among the towers of the Athos monasteries. It is a 6-storey building (plus a fill-in, closed ground floor), 29m high. In addition it stands on the highest point of the monastic complex, at its southern side.

Its base is a rectangle with dimensions 12.7✖7.7m

The entrance to the tower was at the first floor for security reasons. There used to be a ground floor but it has been filled with rubble and is closed. Today the entrance is directly to the 3rd floor through a stone staircase or from the adjacent wings of the monastery.

The lower 4 floors are with small windows and rough partitions. Their purpose, perhaps, has been to be used as storage rooms. The upper two floors are well illuminated and of better construction. They were finalised in the 19th century and today are used by visitors. In the last floor there are 3 separate balconies.

The roof of the tower is covered by stone slates and partly (above the chapel) by sheets of lead .

Despite the renovations through the centuries, the tower was used for centuries and remains a good sample of byzantine and monastic architecture.

Sources