Palestinian Territories · PS

Church of the Nativity

In the heart of Bethlehem, set around an ancient cave venerated as the birthplace of Jesus, the Church of the Nativity is one of the oldest churches in the world still in continuous use. A first basilica was raised here under the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, over the grotto where tradition holds Mary gave birth; the great stone shell you walk into today was rebuilt by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century and later embellished by Crusader artists. It has survived fires, invasions and centuries of quarrels between rival Christian communities, and in 2012 it became the first Palestinian site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. For pilgrims, the climax of a visit is reached by stooping through the famously low Door of Humility and descending a short flight of stairs into the Grotto of the Nativity, a candle-and-lamp-lit cave where a fourteen-pointed silver star set into the floor marks the exact spot of the birth, ringed by an inscription reading 'Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.' For everyone else, the church is a remarkable walk through time — Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Ottoman layers stacked in a single fortress-like building overlooking Manger Square.