Pheidias' workshop stood outside the Altis. It was a large building the same size as the cella of the temple of Zeus. In it were placed the ready parts of the chryselephantine statue of Zeus before their final assembly in the temple. Perhaps it also had a cult character, for the traveller Pausanias (2nd c. AD.) mentions the existence there of a common altar for all the gods. The main workshop areas were located south of this building, where clay moulds for drapery of different sizes were found, as well as pieces of ivory, bits of semiprecious stones, glass sheets and many bronze, bone andiron tools.

The most interesting of the finds was a small black-painted oinochoe with inscription on the bottom: FEIDIO EIMI (I belong to Pheidias). During the 5th and 6th c. AD a community of Christians who had settled in Oiympia altered Pheidias' workshop into a three-aisle Early Christian basilica, the only building to survive the two powerful earthquakes of 522 and 561 AD, which devastated the Sanctuary. Low perforated marble closure panels divided the sanctuary of the church from the nave, whose floor was strewn with reused tiles from ancient buildings.

                                                                                                          Pheidias workshop model       
 

                                                                                          Chryselephantine statue of Zeus