The best-known feature of the Church of Christ Pantocrator is the rich and colourful decoration of its exterior walls.[5] The most lavishly decorated part of the church is the east side with the apse, and as a whole all sides of the church exhibit different ornamentation. Interchanging strips of three or four rows of bricks and carved stones, which create an optical pattern, are the most basic type of decoration used.[13] Rows of blind arches, four-leaved floral motifs, triangular ornaments, circular turquoise ceramics and brick swastika friezes run along the east wall.[2] Ousterhout likens the appearance of the church's superimposed arcades to an aqueduct;[4][12] an earlier example of that configuration can be observed in the Cappadocian church of Çanlı Kilise near Aksaray, Turkey.[15] The inclusion of swastikas in the decoration is considered unusual and curious to tourists.[1][5] It is explained by the medieval use of the swastika as a symbol of the Sun.[3]