The founder’s inscription above the entrance in the naos says that it was built and decorated with frescoes in 1361. The founder of the church was Caesar Grgur, and the patron of its interior decoration was Bishop Grigorij Devolski, one of the most influential figures of the Ohrid Archbishopric since the mid-14th century.
The founder’s inscription above the entrance in the naos says that it was built and decorated with frescoes in 1361. The founder of the church was Caesar Grgur, and the patron of its interior decoration was Bishop Grigorij Devolski, one of the most influential figures of the Ohrid Archbishopric since the mid-14th century. The church is built in the form of a cross inscribed in a rectangle and it has a pronounced height, which sets it apart from the older architectural church solutions in the Ohrid region. Above the central part, there is a dome leaning on four pillars, and on the east side, there is a three-sided apse. At the time of its construction the church had a narthex on the west side.
The fresco-decoration of the Holy Mother of God Zahumska is quite damaged, but it still has an important place in the 14 th century Ohrid art because its creators, besides the thematic features and traditions of the Ohrid painting, presented new currents of Byzantine art here. The unknown painters of these frescoes have shown their refined taste and sense of narration in the compositions, with bright color gamma.
