One of the oldest churches in the Tzoumerka area is unquestionably the Red Church (Kokkini Ekklesia), located in Palaiochori, Vourgareli, and dating back to the late 13th century.
Its name most probably resulted from the red color of the bricks, decorating the exterior walls of the monument, forming bands with meanders and serrated ribbons.
Dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos, it is built according to the cross-in-square type. The frescoes (few survive today) were made in 1295/6 according to an inscription.
The fresco on the eastern wall of the narthex depicting the Theotokos holding Baby Christ, flanked by two laic pairs is quite remarkable. The pairs depict Ioannis Tzimiskis with his wife Anna and is John Tzimiskes with his wife Anna and “protostrator” Theodoros Tzimiskis and his wife Maria, who paid for the frescoes.
Researchers have proven that the same group of workers built a few years later the church of Agios Clement in Achrida, which has the same architectural style and more or less the same external decoration.
