Mount Athos has been a centre of monastic life since at least the foundation of the Great Lavra in 963–4, and there is evidence of monks living on the peninsula for several preceding centuries. There have been many books describing the art, architecture, spirituality and history of Mount Athos. This book is a series of papers presented at a conference held at Helsinki in 2006 to celebrate an exhibition of art treasures from the mountain. They seek to answer the basic question of why so many men – of course women are not allowed on the mountain – have made the journey, what they found when they arrived and the effect it had on their lives. The first three essays ask how it all started. The first traces the identity and the origins of the earliest monks. Then there is an account of the lives of some of the most famous of the early Athonite fathers. The third historical essay traces the relationships and connectedness linking the holy mountain with the monasteries of medieval northern Russia. Then there are a series of more modern testimonies. Some of these are personal accounts and some report the experiences of others. The pilgrims presented are a varied group. We meet a Russian monk, Parfeny Ageev, who, in spite of his love for the mountain, spent most of his life wandering around Russia; the novelist Nikos Kazantzakis; several English visitors, among them Philip Sherrard; and, in conclusion, a lyrical account by Nikolaos Hatzinikolaou, a Harvard graduate who became a monk on Athos and then a bishop in Athens, who provides vivid accounts of a series of meetings with the hermits living on the precipitous southern slopes of the mountain. There is a common pattern to the essays, with several contributors showing their sensitivity to the natural beauty and the silence of the place. Several of the contributors repeat the saying of Father Nikon, a Russian hermit of the twentieth century, that ‘here every stone breathes prayers’. They approve the practice of travelling on foot and regret the deteriorating condition of the old footpaths. Of course they are pleased to note the revival of monastic life during recent decades but also regret the growth of forestry, the building of roads and the noise of lorries and buses. It is a book by visitors who have come to love the place and who testify to the capacity of the mountain to renew and transform those who come with faith and are open to what they are given. It is an evocative portrait which encourages the reader to follow their example.