The church stands in a mountainous terrain, in a fertile and verdant area.
The building’s ground floor plan is of a rectangular shape, 13,50 x 27,05 m, excluding the apses of the bema. The walls have a 0,98 m thickness and are built of local sedimentary limestone poros with a yellow-red tint. There are two small windows in each of the two longitudinal sides (0,16×0,45 m), two large windows (0,70×1,15 m) and a door, (the north door measures 1,65×2,80 m, while the south one 1,29×2,80 m).). An additional window is found at the south façade.
The interior of the church is divided into three aisles by two rows of supports, consisting of five pairs ofcolumns and two pairs of pillars. The central aisle is 4,36 m wide and is roofed with a barrel vault. It is reinforced by seven cross-springers corresponding to the seven pairs of supports. The side aisles are roofed with small domical vaults (phournika), with domes. The original arched door to the gynaikonitis still exists in the west façade. The bema has three apses, but the two small niches inside the church at either side of the prothesis and diakonikon evidence the fact that the three aisled church belongs to the type of the “triple” churches constructed during the Ottoman conquest of the area, designed to fulfill a three sided function: the north apse was devoted to Agios Konstantinos and Eleni, the south apse to the worship of Agios Demetrios and the main apse is dedicated to the saint after whom the church was named.
Agios Georgios and its row of domesThe church is covered by a gabled roof, above which project the main dome, the four corner domes, and six small blind domes over each side aisle.
According to the local tradition, the church was built in 1811 at a period of 39 days. Two inscriptions, found at the entrance of each longitudinal sides, were later added in the main structure.
The church seems to have passed by two different constructi0nal phases, the one in 1811, during which it had a wooden roof and the second one, during which the church became a domed building.
SOURCES
Petronwtis Αrg., «Η πολύτρουλη Βασιλική του Αγίου Γεωργίου Ζάχολης (Τhe multi-domed basilica of Aghios Georgios at Zakholi, formerly the chief village of Korinthia)», Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Άλωση, τ. 7, Thessaloniki 2013.
Eleni I. Kanetaki
Architectural survey of Agios Georgios’ southern facade in Zaholi (Petronwtis Αrg., «Η πολύτρουλη Βασιλική του Αγίου Γεωργίου Ζάχολης (Τhe multi-domed basilica of Aghios Georgios at Zakholi, formerly the chief village of Korinthia)», Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Άλωση, τ. 7, Thessaloniki 2013).
Architectural survey of Agios Georgios’ ground floor plan in Zaholi (Petronwtis Αrg., «Η πολύτρουλη Βασιλική του Αγίου Γεωργίου Ζάχολης (Τhe multi-domed basilica of Aghios Georgios at Zakholi, formerly the chief village of Korinthia)», Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Άλωση, τ. 7, Thessaloniki 2013).
Architectural survey of Agios Georgios’ transversal section in Zaholi (Petronwtis Αrg., «Η πολύτρουλη Βασιλική του Αγίου Γεωργίου Ζάχολης (Τhe multi-domed basilica of Aghios Georgios at Zakholi, formerly the chief village of Korinthia)», Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Άλωση, τ. 7, Thessaloniki 2013).
Sketches depicting the constructional phases of Agios Georgios (Petronwtis Αrg., «Η πολύτρουλη Βασιλική του Αγίου Γεωργίου Ζάχολης (Τhe multi-domed basilica of Aghios Georgios at Zakholi, formerly the chief village of Korinthia)», Εκκλησίες στην Ελλάδα μετά την Άλωση τ. 7, Thessaloniki 2013).lezanta
The main entrance of the multidomed Agios Georgios church.
Detail of the southern facade over the entrance.
The church’s domes at the northern side.
The complex of Agios Georgios’ church in Zacholi.