Inside Tour

Behind the altar appears Christ, depicted as a black African priest. To his left are Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus' cross, and Manche Masemola, a Christian girl martyred in the Northern Transvaal. To Jesus' right are Bernard Mizeki, an Anglican catechist murdered in Mashonaland in 1896, and Umquamusela, a Zulu general who died for his Christian faith.

These five figures (plus those of the Virgin and Child on the right wall) were painted by Canon Paterson. However, his students contributed the additional ornamentation.

Also the work of students are the many murals illustrating New Testament stories and parables. Note again how the paintings grow out of the local culture and geography. Thus the prodigal son dances to the music of a guitar and wastes his money drinking beer under a tree. Some of the seed scattered by the the sower will perish among the rocks, where only aloes can grow.

And Jesus meets the Samaritan woman beside a spring in the Matobo Hills. The quality of the paintings varies, of course. Contrast, for example, the naive and childlike charm of the Good Samaritan with the sophisticated composition of the Stoning of Stephen below it. And yet, which is the better? Which do you prefer?

Canon Paterson's own comments about the murals make fascinating reading. In 1943 he wrote: 'Our painted chapel attracts a lot of attention as its walls slowly cover themselves in murals done by the students. The most recent mural is twenty-four feet wide and depicts a student's own idea of the Last Judgement.

'Over the centre of the . . . door, Our Lord is seated on a throne. He holds in His hands an adze and a mealie-cob, and by this twin standard of "What have you made or what have you grown?" He judges the world.' 'Scattered over the wall in strange arabesque are groups of working people busy about their village crafts or enjoying the relaxation of music or reading or writing or dancing, a priest celebrates in a chasuble and before an altar ... and, nearby, another priest holds a child precariously while he baptises it. In a far corner a fearsomly-patterned snake guards a pit down which a parcel of nudes fall headlong into decorative flames and darkness.'

In a 1945 newsletter Paterson wrote: 'Our far too small School Chapel has had some very pleasant new frescoes painted this year. Shadrech Sylvester Chibayi has done a very large one of the Parable of the Talents and some parts of it are very reminiscent of the ideas at the back of a Matisse.'

'James Ratumu has done The Good Shepherd with wealth of local detail, and the lost lamb is being carefully noted by a hyena, a leopard, a jackal and a vulture, while a native Good Shepherd seeks it out with a grass torch. Only in this fresco did I interfere on one small point which will perhaps amuse you. I noticed that in place of the lamb which figures in our depiction of the story, James had a most potent-looking ram. I got him to change it, but I have since wondered whether perhaps James was not right, for in the human sphere it is not the lambs which stray!'

Besides murals, the chapel contains other items of interest. One is the mortar-shaped sandstone baptismal font carved by Paterson in memory of his wife Molly, who died in 1944 (and who lies buried in the chapel cemetery). Another is the wood chest to the right of the doorway; carved into its front panel is the history of Zimbabwe down to the 1950s. Note also the carved sanctuary furniture and the pew ends.

The chapel is still, as Paterson described it, 'a gay and happy building with plenty of light to show off the colour'. The lasting impression is of a place that has been loved and reverenced as a house of God for all its 50-plus years.

Some paintings more

Back to the main entrance CYRENE - 5 June 1997