The Churches of Apalirou

Abstract

During the recent survey and documentation work at and around Kastro Apalirou 7 churches have been documented, 2 inside, and 5 outside the walls in the immediate vicinity of the kastron. This article will present what we now know about three of these churches and their immediate environment, Aghios Giorgos and a small double-aisled church inside Kastro Apalirou and a large extramural church immediately to the southwest of the only gate in the town.1 The three churches discussed here are not only different in location, size and building technique, they have also been documented in quite different ways. Work at Aghios Giorgos was carried out according to standard archaeological documentation strategy on standing building remains, while a small-scale excavation was carried out on the small double-aisled church. The large church outside the Kastro has not yet been possible to study in detail, mainly because building debris covers the entire building, making any detailed study of the masonry, mortar and building technique difficult. These different strategies mean that while we can suggest dating of both construction and collapse for the small double-aisled church, we can only give a relative dating for the different phases in the Aghios Giorgos-complex and not even that for the extramural church. Even though numerous questions still remain concerning all three churches, the following description and discussion will hopefully make these important monuments of Kastro Apalirou more accessible for the scholarly community.