The monastery is built by the sea, in the S.W. side of the peninsula, between the monasteries of Dionysiou and Simonopetra and is dedicated to St Nicholas. The Katholicon is built and painted after the mid 18th c. The monastery has 10 chapels and 4 kellia in Karyes.

The monastery is built during the 14th c Afterwards, there is very little information of it. The Russian pilgrims Barsky (18th c.) reports that the monastery was restarted in 1500, is the smallest of the monasteries, and almost all the heirlooms and the documents were lost in the fire of 1761. The monastery is finally rebuilt with the financial aid of the princes of Moldavia and Valachia.

Inside the Katholicon are kept many heirlooms and portable icons, the most outstanding of which are those of St Nicholas, of Virgin Galaktotropousa and of Virgin Pantanassa.

In the library there are 297 manuscripts, about 4,000 books and many documents. The monastery is inhabited by a brotherhood of 70 monks.