Church of Agios Georgios Chostos, Agia Varvara - 2007

Church of Agios Georgios Chostos, Agia Varvara, Heraklion. Liana Starida, Eleni Kanaki, Periandros Epitropakis, Z. Aletras, Ch. Mpilmezi and N. Marnellou (13η ΕΒΑ) report that SE of the Agia Varvara settlement and 500 m. away from the church of Agios Antonios, the church of Agios Georgios Chostos is located.

It is a small rectangular building with one room, a build arch and concave tiles. Its E side results to a semi-circular arch with a window in the middle. In the middle of the W side of the main room, a large opening connecting to the narthex towards the W can be found. On both the S and N sides of the church, arches are placed for support, while a rectangular narthex belonging to a second building phase can be seen in the W.  The entrance is located in the middle of the W side. On the exterior, above the entrance an inscription with the date when the narthex was added is found (1615 AD). The main church seems to have been a century older. A semi-circular dome is covering the narthex, while the walls are covered in paintings potentially of the 16^th century.

During the restoration and excavation works of the church, multiple graves were discovered inside and out of it. Four built cist graves covered with rectangular slabs made of limestone were found in the interior. A fifth grave was found in the N part of the narthex. The graves contained bones from multiple burials and secondary anakomides. It seems that this church was built by a local nobleman with the purpose to be used as the burial ground for him and his family.

[Entry created by C. Koureta]