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“So where are we going today?” asked Nisha.
“To Göreme,” said Fatima.
“And what’s that?” Nisha was genuinely curious.
“Very good question, Ms. Sharma. I mean Nisha. So let me explain. The Göreme Open-Air Museum is a vast complex of ancient churches built between 8th and 12th centuries A.D. These churches were carved out of soft rocks and contain many examples of Byzantine art. You’ll see here the finest of rock carved churches, with colourful frescoes as beautiful as ever,” said Fatima.
“Sounds interesting,” said Raj.
After a journey of almost an hour and a half they reached the complex. Nisha looked around. The place looked like any other place in Cappadocia. It was hilly—with a combination of black hills and white hills with millions of holes. Just like a Swiss cheese. Very similar to Kaymakali.
The morning breeze was crisp. Nisha felt her nose becoming cold and red. She was wearing a dark grey beanie and a matching grey overcoat over her light blue jeans. Raj wore a black overcoat over his dark blue jeans.
Fatima sat down on a bench. She opened a book which contained pictures of frescoes. Nisha noticed that deep blue was the dominant colour. Fatima explained that most of the themes were from the New Testament—a book totally unfamiliar to Nisha.
“There are three churches in this complex,” said Fatima catching her breath.
Raj and Nisha listened quietly.
“There are a lot of stairs, so it could become quite tiring. If you want you may have a look at all three. But if you want to see just one, I suggest that the last one is the best and worth a visit,” said Fatima.
Nisha nodded. “I really don’t have the stamina. So I’ll save my energies for the third one,” she said and sat down on a bench.
“Let me then have a look at the first two and I’ll join you for the third,” said Raj.
“Would you also like to give Nisha some company?” Raj asked Fatima.
“Ha, who will then explain the caves to you,” answered Fatima.
Nisha was struck by her answer and realised how badly Fatima needed the job. She promised to remind Raj to give a good tip to Fatima after the trip.
Both Raj and Fatima climbed up the stairs which opened into the first cave. It was a barrel vaulted church with a low ceiling. The arches were nicely carved and the cave did look like a typical ancient church.
A lot of red paint was used. Fatima explained that the red paint was actually grape juice. A few frescoes had faded away. One had a white bearded man sitting wearing a red robe. He looked like an ancient version of Santa Claus to Raj. Nevertheless, Raj was very impressed with the paintings.
“Look here is a fresco which shows St. George and St. Theodore on horse-back struggling against the dragon and the snake,” said Fatima.
Raj looked hard at the fresco. The fresco was so faint that he could not make out any snake or dragon. Or maybe he lacked the imagination to see them, he sighed.
The second church was bigger, better and somewhat more attractive than the first one. It had nicely carved arches. Red again dominated the frescoes. The themes were again from the New Testament. The paintings depicted scenes of saints, bishops and martyrs. Raj paused for a moment to enjoy the view and clicked furiously.
Raj then climbed down with Fatima to where Nisha was sitting on a bench enjoying the surroundings. She looked so cute in her beanie. Her face was a little too pale which concerned Raj.
He was tempted to kiss her but restrained. Seeing them, Nisha got up slowly and they all made their way towards the third church. The climb was a little steep. Raj held Nisha’s hands as she climbed up the stairs—one at a time. They finally made it to the entrance of the cave. It looked like any other cave. Nothing special. But the moment Nisha entered the cave, her eyes lit up.
“Wowwwwwwww,” she said with excitement.
Blue, yellow and red—dominated the whole church. This church was well lit. The frescoes reflected the natural sunlight and gave the walls a very gleaming look. Fatima explained that the blue colour came from indigo and lapis lazuli stones.
Nisha kept staring at the paintings. She was so engrossed that she hardly moved. She couldn’t believe that this was a cave. It had a nice high ceiling and looked like an exotic ancient church. Ah—there was Jesus too, lying on a cross in the centre of the ceiling.
Fatima tried her best to explain the scenes that were depicted: miracles of Christ, the first deacons, episodes from the life of St. Basil but they hardly made any sense to Nisha. Fatima pointed to a painting that depicted baby Jesus and Nisha was like “Aaaahhhhhhhhh.”
There was one painting that caught Nisha’s attention. It was the Last Supper—where Jesus was having his last meal with his apostles before crucifixion. The painting had faded due to centuries of erosion and Nisha could hardly make out the faces of the apostles. They were faint and blurred. The meal and the wine glass on the table were faint too.
Nisha could relate to the painting, only for one reason—Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.” She’d loved that novel—sorry haters of Dan Brown. She remembered distinctly that she’d Google searched “The Last Supper” and had zoomed in to see a clearer view of the digital version of the painting. She was convinced that one of the apostles was—Mary Magdalene. Her features were so feminine and she had long flowing hair. There was no reason to believe that she wasn’t a woman. However, she was saddened that she couldn’t find Mary Magdalene this time in this church. It would have been so much nicer to meet her here. “Aaaahhhhhhhhh, anyways,” said Nisha and moved on.
Nevertheless, Nisha was happy that she’d made an effort to visit at least the third church. She was glad that she’d fought her illness to travel to such places. In Venetian Macau, she’d seen paintings that were an ultra-modern imitation of the Sistine Chapel. But this one—was real and ancient.
“Shall we move?” asked Raj.
“No. I want to spend some more time admiring the place,” said Nisha.
“No problem,” said Raj.
Nisha kept staring at the walls and the interior domes and the ceilings. Her head turned back and forth, up and down. She was transported to a new world. A world of endless energy, passion and enthusiasm.
She pictured monks and disciples discovering this place a thousand years ago. Why did they come here, she didn’t know. Did they flee persecution? Or did they suffer some other tragedy?
Yet they were determined enough to have come here with chisels and hammers. Nisha could picture monks hammering away at the rocks—one at a time. At first—it might have looked like an impossible task. The monks would have been extremely mad to persist. Could they visualise the final outcome from the ugly unrecognisable shapes they were working on?
Then the arches might have taken shape. At first glance—they also would have appeared quite crude. Then these would have been chiselled and sharpened and sharpened till they looked like the perfect arches of a church that anyone would have been proud of.
Fatima had told Nisha that the monks created frescoes to educate their disciples about Jesus. Most people were illiterate in those days—so learning by imagery was the only way to communicate religious beliefs. Nisha wondered how many years they would have worked on with their paints and brushes to create this beautiful church that awes people even today.
So man can achieve anything if he sets his heart to it, Nisha mused. Simply the desire should be there. And the will to persist should be there. Anything was possible after that.
With faith, it appeared that the most dreadful of diseases could be conquered. Was her cancer too then conquerable? The doctors had written her off, but could she still persist? She could at least try to believe in a miracle.
Nisha slowly felt her energy renewing. Her face became brighter.
“Let’s go,” she said. They slowly climbed down. Raj always extended a helping hand as usual but this time she didn’t need that. She climbed down on her own briskly.
