ABSTRACT
ON that same day we were taken to see another church which is that of Saint George [at the Mangana].1 Before the same stands a great court, wherein there are orchards and many houses and the main building of the church lies beyond these. At the church door stands a great font for baptism, very beautifully wrought, and it is surmounted by a cupola supported on eight pillars of white marble that are carved and ornamented with figures. The main building of the church is very lofty, and it is everywhere adorned with mosaic work. There is seen here the figure of our Lord Jesus Christ as He appeared ascending into Heaven. The flooring of the church is a wonder of workmanship being flagged with slabs of porphyry and jasper in many colours, with scroll-work very deftly accomplished. The walls are similarly wrought, and the ceiling immediately inside the doorway displays the figure of God the Father in mosaic work. Further there is here the semblance of the True Cross which an angel points to as it appears up in the clouds of heaven, while the Apostles are seen below, as at the time when the Holy Spirit descended on them in Tongues of Fire. All this is done in mosaic work and very beautifully accomplished. In this same church is to be seen a great tombstone of jasper, which is covered over with a pall of silk, and here lies buried a certain Empress.2
