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Church of Saint George (Lod)

church building in Lod, Israel

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ2318440 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Church of Saint George (Hebrew: כנסיית גאורגיוס הקדוש קוטל הדרקון, lit. 'Church of Saint George the dragonslayer'; Arabic: كنيسة القديس جيورجوس or كنيسة مار جريس) is a Greek Orthodox church, located in the city of Lod, Israel. The church contains a sarcophagus venerated as the tomb of the fourth-century Christian martyr Saint George.

The 19th-century church is located adjacent to the 15th-century Great Mosque of Lod. The original site containing both the church and the mosque was a former medieval church that was destroyed in the 12th century; and rebuilt during the Crusader period.

History

Byzantine establishment

The church of Saint George was first established in Lod by the Byzantines and stood in the 5th-7th centuries. It was probably shaped as a basilica whose three aisles terminated at the east end in semi-circular apses. Beside the basilica, the complex also contained a second, smaller church, to its southwest. The Christian site was destroyed in 614 by the Sasanids during the war which led to them conquering Jerusalem.

The Byzantine basilica may have had just one apse with two irregular pastophoria (chambers).

Crusader cathedral

The Crusaders established their cathedral at the exact site of the medieval Byzantine church, reusing some of its surviving masonry, and having the same internal measurements of 47 metres (154 ft) east to west, and 24 metres (79 ft) north to south.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Church of Saint George (Lod)” as church building in Lod, Israel. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 226-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1872. The account is most persuasive where Church, Saint and George can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as church building in Lod, Israel. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2318440. VIAF identifies the subject as 1298154923733463780006. Authority coordinates are 31.953, 34.899. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Church of Saint George (Lod)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Church of Saint George (Lod) primary sources, Church of Saint George (Lod) archive and Church research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Church of Saint George (Lod)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Church of Saint George (Lod)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.