Rhodes – Lindosthe Lower town – The early Byzantine churches

Lindos has a number of small Byzantine churches which substantially predate the arrival of the Knights on the island. Several of them have the remains of wall-paintings which range in date from the 12th to the 15th centuries, but whose condition is generally not good. Two of the churches—Aghios Giorgios Chostos and Aghios Giorgios Pachymachiotis—are dedicated to the same saint, but possess different epithets: ‘chostos’, ‘on or in a mound of earth’, is often attached to semi-underground churches or chapels in low-lying hollows, while ‘pachymachiotis’ refers to the saint as ‘thickly armed for battle’. Aghios Giorgios Chostos (pre-11th century) is the oldest of the group: it sits in a declivity just below the northeast corner of the main square at the edge of the town. Its domed, inscribed-cross plan presents a compact, almost cuboid exterior with cylindrical drum. Inside there are several layers of superimposed wall-paintings from different ep ochs: the figures of the patriarchs and saints in the apse are late 12th century, while the unusual non-figurative design of crosses and medallions may be a century earlier. Aghios Giorgios Pachymachiotis is reached by taking the path that descends round the west and north sides of the church of the Panaghia. It too has an inscribed cross design, with dome. Inside it bears an inscription on the southern side of the apse dating the building and its decoration to 1394/5. Above it is the tiny, 12th century church of Aghios Minas: the scene of the Ascension on the sanctuary vault is contemporaneous with the church’s construction, while most of the other paintings are 15th century. The barrel vaulted church of Aghios Demetrios, higher up and at the end of the town to the northeast has faded 15th century painting on its north wall. From this side of the town the attractive form of the late 13th century church of the Soter (‘Saviour’) is visible far below, a short distance behind the beach on the north side of the town within a walled enclosure. It appears to be built across ancient walls in one corner: some Early Christian fragments lie in the vicinity.