There must be some Byzantine bits remaining but they are underground now. As with St Mary of the Mongols, this is a church as it was before the Ottoman conquest. However, the Byzantine structure burned down in a fire in 1782. After reforms in the early 19th century, it was permitted to build churches with domes. Hence the 1832 rebuild was in the form that we see it now. It’s nice to see that at least one of the cypresses planted recently has reached a decent height. (41.000848,28.933364)
The church has been refurbished recently. Here are the results in July 2019.
St George of the Cypresses with stones on display
The yellow-painted plaster has been removed and the newly exposed stonework is in fine condition.
North-west side
This view of the arches facing the main Samatya road show how much the level of the land around the church has risen in a couple of hundred years.
Garden on south side of church
Some of the attendant buildings retain the distinctive yellow plaster. It is promising to see such a comprehensive restoration in an area bristling with Orthodox churches. This seems to go against the trend of slow disintegration that characterised the last century of neglect of Samatya’s churches.
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