The monastery of Karakalou is built on the east side of the Athos peninsula, on the edge of a hill surrounded by forest. It comes as 11th in the hierarchy ranking of the monasteries of the Athonite community and its architecture resembles a classic medieval castle, with defensive characteristics.
According to many historic hand scripts, the founding of the monastery took place at the beginning of the 11th century and the founder is considered to be a monk named Nikolaos Karakallas.
During the 13th century, the monastery of Karakalou, like the majority of the monasteries in Athos, suffered several attacks by Catalan pirates. It recovered quickly, especially with the founding of Byzantine emperors, as well as leaders from Moldavia and Iberia. It is worth mentioning that it reached a point of such wealth and prosperity that 500 monks used to live there.
The Katholikon, the biggest church of the monastery, is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. There are also 8 smaller churches from which five of them are located inside the walls of the monastery and three out of it.
In addition, the monastery of Karakalou has an exceptional presence in the field of literature since historic hand scripts and other documents are included in its great library. Nowadays, the fraternity of the monastery consists of approximately 50 monks while it hosts a number of guests who are used to book their accommodation in advance. The guests or the pilgrims can admire murals of Dionysius from Fourna, see precious hand scripts, and worship the remains of saints.