The Monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded during the Late Byzantine era, when monasticism in Veria and the region around it was flourishing, under the name Panagia Koukoumitriotissa, named after its founder and patron, the lord Koukoumis from Veria (14th century). The name ‘Dovra’, which became gradually established from the 17th century onwards, comes from the name of the neighbouring village, known since the late 14th century. There are written testimonies of the names of Abbots and monks, recording the existence of a monastic fraternity and its estates and relics (codices, liturgical books, despotic icons) and documenting the seamless operation of the monastery under the Ottoman Empire until April 1822.

In the year 1822, the Monastery took an active part in the Greek War of Independence and played a key role in its development, serving as the headquarters of the Macedonian chieftains and primates when planning their revolutionary actions, as well as a battlefield (Battle of Dovra, 12-13 March 1822). After the uprising was quelled, the monastery shared in the misfortune of Naousa and neighbouring villages and was destroyed by the troops of Lubut Pasha.

However, the efforts for the re-establishment and re-opening of the Monastery began in 1832, culminating in the reconstruction of its catholicon, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, in 1844. Shortly before the liberation of Macedonia in 1912, the management of the Monastery's assets was assigned to the ecclesiastical council of the Holy Church of Saint Anthony of Veria, and in 1934 exclusively undertaken by laymen.

In 1947, a Children’s Home was founded on a tract of land belonging to the Monastery to house destitute and orphaned children. The institution operated from 1950 until 1970 under the auspices of the Royal Welfare Fund, and subsequently under the supervision of the National Welfare Organisation until 1986, when it was closed. In 1995, thanks to the efforts of His Eminence Panteleimon, Metropolitan of Beroia, Naousa and Campania, the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary of Dovra, Veria was founded anew as a men's cenobitic monastery, its statute was drawn up (1997) and its ownership definitively returned to the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Beroia, Naousa and Campania.

After the Monastery had been re-founded, an Abbot had been elected and monks and priests had become established at its premises, the process began to re-organise the monastery: its catholicon was renovated, the font of Zoodochos Pigi (“Life-giving Spring”) was rebuilt, new building facilities were erected to house the archontariki (“visitors’ hall”), the cells (private rooms) and various other functions, and the environs were landscaped.