[2] According to the founder's inscription above the west entrance, the church was built in 1028 by the protospatharios Christopher, katepano of Longobardia, and his wife, son, and two daughters.

[2] The inscription reads: This once profane place is dedicated as an eminent church to the Mother of God by Christopher, the most illustrious royal protospatharios and governor of Lagouvardia, and his wife Maria, and their children Nicephorus, Anna, and Catacale, in the month of September, indiction XII, in the year 6537.

[5] In the naos, four light grey marble columns form a square and support the arches of the four barrel-vaults that make up the arms of the cross going out.

[6] The arms of the cross can be clearly seen on the exterior, with saddle back roofs over their great barrel vaults, and triangular pediments emphasising their ends.

The lintel of the royal door leading from the narthex into the naos is decorated with a twisting band design, forming squares and circles in relief.

[12] According to Sharon Gerstel, “The church of Panagia ton Chalkeon ... preserves one of the earliest multi-register sanctuary programs in Macedonia.”[13] In the conch of the apse stands the Virgin Orant flanked by two archangels.

[14] According to Gerstel, the presence of non-episcopal figures in the bema dates the iconographical program to "a period when a wider variety of saints could be located in the sanctuary.”[15] Inscribed on the eastern arch of the church are these words (here translated into English based on Paul Speck's reconstruction of the quote): “Beholding the altar of the Lord, Stand trembling, O man!

And the powers of incorporeal angels, ministering, Circle around [the altar] in fear.”[15] This message borders a depiction of the apostles taking the last supper, which is the earliest extant representation of the scene in the bema of a Byzantine church.

This in effect, according to Gerstel, engulfs the altar and the celebrant and equates “the priest with Christ as the giver of the sacrifice.”[16] In the main dome there is a departure from the standard Byzantine iconographical program.

[18] Overall the figures that can still be seen in the Panagia Chalkeon are characterized by symmetry, flatness, heavy dark lines, extensive shading, and a great range of colours.