Set on a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. it is a treasury which houses and guards many artifacts and monuments of religions, national and artistic value. It is also a "workshop" where religions arts and crafts are still practiced to this day, and where deep and genuine spirituality is allowed to flourish and bear fruit. As an institution Mount Athos is, and has been, the chief standard bearer of Orthodox Christianity.