The Church of Saint George
~The Church of Saint George –Solos ~
Peter Jeffreys
The church of Saint George is unique in that it was designed and commissioned by the “proestos” of Solos Nikolaos Soliotis himself and served both as a house of worship and as a gathering place of revolutionary activity prior to the outbreak of 1821. Designated as a “heritage” building in 1974 along with the Soliotis family pyrgos, it stands as the most important and impressive structure in Solos. The building was surveyed and documented in 2002 by Aphrodite Agoropoulou-Birbili who published an extensive chapter on it in the volume Churches in Greece: 1453-1850. She makes a number of important observations and corroborates her research with important details which will be summarized in what follows. Construction on the church was begun in 1806 and the chief builders who worked under Nikolaos were Constantis Psychoulis, Spyridon, Panagiotakis and Argyris Georgiou [Κωνσαντής Ψυχούλης, Σπυρίδων, Παναγιωτάκης, Αργύρης Γεωργίου], whose names appear carved in stone in the four corners of the building along with that of Soliotis. The church is rather large–23.44 meters/76.90 feet in length, 11.78 meters/38.64 feet in width, with the dome reaching a height of 11.72 meters/38.45 feet– and an example of a domed three-isle basilica which is based on late-Byzantine prototypes, although the erection of such models was fairly rare during the period of Turkish occupation. Equally unique is the inclusion of three “πολεμήστρες/polemistres”—crenellated corner garrets or parapets [bulwarks]—that were added to the corners of the church and used to defend the building during raids or battles.
There are no iconographic frescoes on the interior walls but there is some exquisite plaster work done in the Ottoman baroque style and executed by the craftsman Anastasios of Chios, much of which still survives in the four pendentives, the central dome, the barrel vaults, and sanctuary. The wooden iconostasis and panel icons are notable and highly ornate and constitute the main decorative component of the church (Plate One). A master woodcarver was brought over from Constantinople and spent seven years completing the project. Sadly, his name was not recorded, nor does it appear anywhere on his work. A fine example of the carved wood folk art that was prominent in Greece during the 18th and 19th centuries, the walnut “templon” includes elaborate floral and vegetative motifs along with stylized grape vines and angels interspersed with decorative designs. The icon screen is topped with a traditional cross depicting the crucified Christ flanked by icons of his mother and disciple John interwoven with carved dragons.
Plate One: The Iconostasis
The four main panel icons of Christ, the Virgin, John the Baptist, and Saint George date from 1815 are painted in a post-Byzantine Baroque style. They are the work of the Patras iconographer Christos Vapheiopoulos. The panel icon of the Virgin contains visible slash marks allegedly made by the sword of Ibrahim Pasha in May of 1826 when he decimated Solos and desecrated the church. The upper zone of the icon screen includes 18 small icons that date from a later period that present the feast days of the church. Two additional icons of Saint Charalambos and Saint Nicholas flank either end of the iconostasis. These are also the work of Vapheiopoulos, as are the two large icons of St. Demetrios and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel that adorn the side walls close to the altar. At the entrance of the church is a large icon of Saint George painted by Demetrios Vordounis dated 1814. A recent addition to the church’s iconography was made in 2021 by the descendants of the family in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution. It depicts Nikolaos and his wife Basiliki donating the church to Saint George and is the work of the Athenian iconographer Anna Papadopoulou.
The church dome is octagonal and perforated by four slim windows (Plate Two). Its exterior is ornamented with round ceramic plates (bacini) of Greco-Ottoman design that add a unique feature to the overall aesthetic of the building. The exterior stonework of the dome and apse is strikingly ornate and carved with subtle tracery, an example of the superb mastery of the local stonemasons (Plate Three). Other notable details of the interior include Soliotis’s “στασίδι/stasidi/church seat” which is cordoned off in his honor and contains his portrait. A small set of shelves exhibit the few remaining historic church “κειμήλια” (heirlooms) that survive, most notable among which are a set of silver wedding crowns that belong to the Soliotis family, fine examples of 19th century silverwork.
Plate Two: The church dome with ceramic plates
Plate Three: The church exterior with carved stonework
~Notes~
1See Agoropoulou-Birbili (117) who documents the building’s 2 to 1 symmetrical ratio.
2Agoropoulou-Birbili, 126.
3One of the oral folk traditions of Solos includes the following exchange between Soliotis and the wood carver (taliadoros): “Ταλιαδόρε κερατά/φτιάξ το τέμπλο καλά/Taliodoro, you cuckold carver, carve the templon well.” (Fotopoulos 1982, 139).
4“Pottery vessels ranging in date from the eleventh to fifteenth centuries and found in northern Italy, especially in medieval churches. They were placed in walls of churches, over church doorways, and in church towers for decorative purposes. These Italian vessels were imported from the Byzantine and Arabic world but later Italian maiolicas were made as bacini. Bacini were probably also used in southern Italian, Greek, and western European churches. Some were painted and incised; some were monochromic, others had fantastic designs.” (2021) (“Bacini” in: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58292-0_20018.)
Works Cited
Agoropoulou-Birbili, Aphrodite. “Η Εκκλησία του Αγίου Γεωργίου στον Σόλο Καλαβρύτων” in Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Αλλωση, Vol. VI.
Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις ΕΜΠ, 2002: pp. 111-126.
Fotopoulos, Athanasios. Ιστορικά και Λαογραφικά της Ανατολικής Περιοχής Αιγιαλείας και Καλαβρύτων. Athens: 1982.
