Great Lavra is the oldest continuously inhabited monastic community on Mount Athos.
Saint Athanasius the Athonite founded the monastery in 963 during the reign of Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. Its establishment marked a decisive stage in the organization of cenobitic monastic life on Mount Athos, and its foundation charter became a model for the peninsula’s later institutions.
The monastery is dedicated to Saint Athanasius and occupies a prominent position on the southeastern side of Mount Athos. Its katholikon, or main church, was built in the tenth century and became an influential model for later Athonite church architecture. The complex also contains chapels, a library, archives, and important works of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art.
Great Lavra is sometimes confused with Vatopedi or Iviron, which are also ancient and prominent Athonite monasteries. Those communities were founded later, while Great Lavra traditionally holds the first place in the hierarchy of Mount Athos.