Wall painting

The first scene depicts the arrest of Athanasios Diakos, the hero of the Greek War of Independence, who was put to death in spring 1821. The garments of both the hero and the Turkish soldiers are copies of the same figures depicted in imported prints. In the scene next to that of the arrest of Diakos, appears a man wearing narrow black knee-breeches, a white shirt under a blue sleeved jacket closed with buttons at the front, a broad colourful sash or belt, as well as red and blue striped stockings; in his right hand he holds a dagger, while a sabre or yatağan is hanging from the belt. Most impressive is the tall head-cover consisting of a series of superimposed scarves. The whole appearance recalls the traditional costume of the zeybek, infantrymen from Soutwest Ana­tolia. Similarly dressed are the Turkish soldiers who arrest the hero in the following scene on the same wall, except for their head-covers, which comprise a tall fez with a turban. Be­tween the two scenes is depicted the tree of paradise with the snake coiling up the trunk. A young lady holding flowers appears at the extreme right (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1989, 195-202, plates LXV:1, 2, and LXVI: 1; Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1996, 160, fig. 144).

The clothing of the Christian elite is best represented in icons and wall paint­ing decorating churches.

 The Dragoman of Cyprus Christophakis Constantinou, is here seen leading his family group with hands out towards the model of the church, which is collected by St. George himself. In between the buttresses of the model is recorded the date 1745, when the church was erected.

 Christophakis is dressed in garments of a leading member of the society of the time, bearing strong Ottoman influence. As an over coat he wears a tzouppe (long robe), lined with grey fur shown as a broad collar and down the opening in the front, at the cuffs and the side-pocket.  Under the tzouppe is visible the lower part of the red baggy breeches, the tzaktziria, onto which were sewn the mestia or meskia, footwear made of Morocco leather in the priv­ileged yellow colour. The head-gear is a black kalpaki (fur cap). Similarly dressed, in the fashion of their father, are the two youths in the front row.

Behind Christophakis stands a colourfully dressed lady, wearing a red foustani (dress) cut down the front in a U-shape to show her white shirt. Over all she wears a tzouppe (long robe), lined with ermine fur, which is visible all the way down the opening in the front, in patches at the shoulders and the side(s) slit(s) for the hands. The tzouppe is made of a precious fabric (brocade) decorated with flowers on a green background and has long sleeves with turned-out cuffs.  On her head she wears a red fesin (flat-shaped cap, fez) over which is thrown a green scarf with stamped (or embroidered) flowered decoration. In her clasped hands she holds a red handkerchief and a pouch.

An elderly woman standing immediately behind her shows a long robe clasped at the neck and trimmed with ermine down the opening in the front and at the cuffs. On her head she wears a red kerchief under a scarf which covers the back of the head and the neck.

Immediately behind her appears a female child wearing a red fesin (flat-shaped cap, fez) with a turban. Her tzouppe (overcoat), with sleeves to the elbows, has a white collar of ermine which continues down the opening in the front. From the under-garment, made of red-striped white material, only one sleeve is visible.

Next, stands a grown-up woman of about the same age and similarly dressed as the lady behind Christophakis. She wears the same headdress consisting of a richly decorated red fez over which is thrown a scarf with printed flower decoration. Her tzouppe is of the same type, lined again with ermine fur, but the brocade fabric has flowers on a red background instead of green. Similar is also the cut of the white shirt. On the other hand, there seems to be a difference between the upper and the lower part of the garment over the shirt.  It seems that here we have a combination of a zimbounin (waistcoat) and a red skarpetta (pleated skirt), which recalls the  alla Cipriotta (Cypriot style) dress mentioned by Giovanni Mariti (1760-1767).

Immediately behind her kneels a young girl wearing an anteri (gown) made of red-striped material. Over the anteri (gown) she wears a short white tzouppe (overcoat) open down the front and clasped at the neck. It has sleeves to the elbows and is trimmed or lined with fur seen around the neck, down the open front and at the edge of the sleeves. She wears a red fesin (cap, fez) with a scarf around it, the ends of which fall on to her shoulders. It repeats in miniature the headdress of the other two ladies who wear fez and scarf.

Another sister, the last of the group, is depicted behind the girl. She wears the same type of red-striped anteri as the young girl before her. The anteri is closed at the waist with a belt fastened with a pair of round buckles. Her ermine-lined robe (tzouppe), made of fine colourful brocade, is open down the front and not clasped at the neck, so that it allows the U-shaped cut at the chest of the upper-garment to show, revealing a white shirt underneath. On her head she wears a turban-like cap.