Doves in an ancient church

One day I felt very worried about something. When I felt worried I decided to look up the picture of a church that was integral to my childhood. I remembered many things about this church. One of my strongest memories is sitting on the floor and looking up at the doves perched on the thick wood beams near the ceiling. I also remembered the huge doors that lead to the inside of this church. These doors are known as elephant doors because they are so huge that even elephants could walk through these doors. When I looked at the picture of the church in the internet I realised that everything I remembered is there in the photo of the church that I found in the internet. But in addition there was something else. It was a painting on the back wall of the altar behind the huge crucifix. The wall has an arch carved into it with wood. Inside the arch there is a painting that is a deep saturated blue. The blue is most intense at the top of the arch and becomes less deep in the areas less close to the top. More than half way down the color changes to become yellow. The yellow painted areas of the painting is less uniform and slowly merges into a darker hue at the bottom. As soon as I saw this painting in the church a sense of deja vu washed over me because I had stared at this painting a lot during every mass in my childhood. The painting looked exactly the same as that which I had looked at in my childhood. The fifteen hundred year old church is a historical church in the Indian state of kerala and tells the story of an ancient faith. In the early 80's a new church was constructed adjacent to the 1500 year old church and the 1500 year old church was converted into a museum. Unbeknownst to many in the world is the fact that one of Christ's apostles travelled to Southern India 2000 years ago and established a small christian community in kerala. In the year 1599, the Synod of Diampher, a significant historical event took place in this church. Although this church is of tremendous significance historically for all practical purposes it is the most humble of places. The most simple villagers come to this church. Celebrities do not visit. Great miracles do not take place. But it provides succour to the ordinary parishioners of a remote, sleepy and rather noisy village where my father, aunts and uncle grew up and my grandfather called home. This church is my grandfather's parish church. This is the church I went to during visits to the village of Udayamperoor where this church is located. While I was in high school my grandfather who is very fond of this church wrote the history of this church. I visit this church in the internet, to look at the pictures and the website every once in a while even when not perturbed. In my childhood I have gone to this church with my grandfather, my aunt and my cousin. I would walk to the church with them. The church is not very close by. We walk along the edge of the road to reach this church. The church is on the same road as my grandfather's home. As soon as you enter the compound of the church you see a huge, grey stone cross. A major difference between the interior of the church during my childhood and now is that in the picture in the internet of the inside of the church there are no doves perched on the beam. Maybe the photographer took the picture at a time when no doves were sitting on the beam. Or perhaps after the church was converted into a museum the doves stopped visiting the church. Hope you enjoyed reading about this ancient church!