The monastery is located on the medieval citadel of the town of Elassona, and was founded between 1295 and 1304,[1][2] probably by the co-rulers of Thessaly, the sebastokratores Constantine and Theodore.

[3] Various annexes were added at times to the katholikon, but none of them survives today, apart from a small chapel in the southern side, built in 1819 and dedicated to Saint Nektarios.

[4] In a 1342 sigillion of Patriarch John XIV Kalekas, the stauropegic status of the monastery is confirmed.

[2] A forged chrysobull attributed to Andronikos III Palaiologos concerning the possessions of the monastery contains extensive estates and subsidiary establishments (metochia) as far as Larissa.

[3] The surname Olympiotissa derives from a famed icon of the Panagia, which is believed to have come from a no longer extant monastery at Karya, on the foot of Mount Olympus.