The monastery of St. Paul is located in the southwest end of the Athos peninsula and is the 14th monastery in the hierarchy of all monasteries in Mount Athos. It was founded in 972 by the monk Paul the Xiropotaminos. Actually, the initial name of the monastery was the "monastery of Xiropotamos", but in 1108 it was renamed and took its current name.
During its long history the monastery went through some very difficult periods. In fact, sometimes it reached a point of, almost, non-existence. More specifically, in the 14th century it suffered a tremendous attack by pirates, it was almost completely destroyed and for a short period of time, it was under the management of the neighboring monasteries. In 1365 it was reinforced with Serbian monks and later it returned to its initial state. During the 18th century, it reached its best era and the size was doubled.
Today, St. Paul monastery hosts 100 monks who live permanently and there are 25 huts around the monastery that belong to it. The main church (Katholikon), is dedicated to St Paul and it is well-known for its columns made of marble.
The guests can see the tall tower of the monastery, the painting of the Virgin Mary, parts of the gifts of the magi to Christs (gold, frankincense, myrrh), and the library, which has 495 rare hand scripts and 12.500 printed books.