Today, the compound of the Nativity church covers an area of approximately 12,000 square meters and includes, besides the Basilica, the Latin convent in the north, the Greek convent in the south-east and the Armenian convent in the south-west. A bell-tower and sacristy were built adjoining the south-east corner of the Basilica. In front of the principal western entrance of the 4th century church lied the atrium of the basilica. This was a quadrangle surrounded by colonnades in the center of which were several cisterns for baptisms. From the atrium three doors led into the The Door The main access to the Basilica is by the very small Door of Humility (78 cm in width and 130 cm in height, 2.3 X 4.3 feet). Visitors must enter bending over, as if to a real cave. Originally the church had three entrances, two of which have been bricked up. They are hidden respectively by a buttress built later (after the 16th century) and by the Armenian buildings. The central and highest portal of Justinian's church door was reshaped by the Crusaders. This resulted in a pointed arch which is still visible today with the cornice of the Justinian entrance which can be seen above. The present small entrance was made during the Ottoman era to prevent mounted horsemen from entering the Basilica. There is another small door on the northern side (left of the main entrance) which leads to the Franciscan convent and another small one on the southern side of the church which leads to the Greek Orthodox monastery. There are three keys which close and open the Basilica door; each community (Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian) has one. The Vestibule Immediately past the main entrance is a vestibule, the former narthex of Justinian's imposing church. It is now bare, dark and divided into three somewhat gloomy compartments. From the vestibule a single wooden door gives access to the interior, directly into the main body of the Basilica. The panels of the door were constructed at the bidding of the Armenian king, Haytoun, in 1277, and these were made by two Armenian artists as testified by two inscriptions carved on the upper part in Arabic and Armenian. The Interior The interior of the church is impressive chiefly because of its simplicity. It contains four rows of monolithic columns of Corinthian order carved from local stone. The Basilica, composed of five aisles, was kept during the Justinian rebuilding, but the western wall was moved further westward so as to lengthen the body of the church by one bay. This necessitated the demolition of Constantine's atrium and its replacement by a new one built further west. Only a few traces now remain of the original atrium. The Basilica is a rectangle 53.9 m. (180 feet) long and the nave is 26.2 m. (94 feet) wide and the transept 35.82 m. (120 feet). The stone for the numerous golden-hued supporting columns was quarried in Bethlehem. The pillars, 44 in all, 6 meters (20 feet) high, and of white marble capitals are in debased Corinthian style and bear in the center of the abacus a rosette with an ornate Greek Cross. The limestone columns, which aroused the admiration of the Patriarch Sophronius, were painted during the Middle Ages with frescoes of the Apostles; unfortunately, they have faded almost completely. A number of saints are represented on the columns with inscriptions in Greek and Latin. Among these are St. George, St. Cataldus, St. Canute, King of the Danes, and St. Olaf, King of Norway. Among the forty or so depicted Saints, some come from the Orient, others from the North. Of interest are the armorial devices sketched in the 14th and 15th centuries on the lower parts of many of the columns. A beautiful baptismal font, probably of the sixth or seventh century, is seen in the south-west corner of the church; it is a monolith, octagonal in shape, with a clover-shaped tank. This location corresponds to the old baptismal rite: the catechumen arrived from the outside, received baptism and then entered the church. The unfortunate wall erected by the Greeks in 1842 at the extremity of the aisles was removed in 1918 by Sir Ronald Storrs (British Governor), allowing an unrestricted view of the nave, double aisles, wide transept and semi-circular apse. The Walls In the central nave, there are two walls, each 9 meters high. Eleven semi-circular windows pierce the upper part of each wall, and each has a corresponding bay. The clerestory windows below the elevated roof of the nave provide bright illumination for the church interior. There are traces of a beautiful mosaic on a gold background, dating from the second half of the twelfth century. Originally, all the inner walls of the church were covered with mosaics. The remaining mosaics on the side walls and floor attest to the former splendor of this sanctuary. The fragments of the lowest row of mosaics, still visible on the south side wall, show a series of half-figures representing the ancestors of Christ. Many others, however, are indistinguishable. Above this row there are arcades, with altars concealed by curtains and containing the books of the Gospel. Still higher there are Greek inscription and two Greek crosses. The inscription is an extract from the resolution of the Council of Constantinople. This testifies that essential unity in regard to dogma existed in 1169 when the decoration of the church was brought to an end by Ephraim as it is shown by the inscription in five lines in Greek and Latin still legible in the periphery of the apse of the Choir. Above the architrave of the pillars, in spaces between the fantastic carvings of foliage, are representations of the churches of Antioch and Sardis. Others are the Resolution of the Council of Constantinople held in 381 A.D. A more remarkable remnant is still to be seen on the north side wall where the churches of Antioch and Sardica are represented. Sardica is the old name of Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria. Underneath the picture the resolution of the Council which gathered in that city in 347 A.D is written in Greek. A few others can be seen in the transepts, in the northern part: Doubt of St. Thomas and a part of the Ascension of our Lord; in the southern part, the Triumphal Entry of Jesus can be seen. The faded mosaics on the wall executed by the artist Ephraim, are the gift of the Emperor Manuel Camnenos, who reigned in Constantinople in the twelfth century. The Floor The present floors, made of rough stone slabs, date back to the restorations made by the Greeks in 1842 who attempted to repair the damages caused by the 1834 earthquake. The mosaic floors were covered up with two feet of imported soil, and a pavement of marble slabs was laid at a higher level. While the church being repaired in 1934, a fine mosaic floor with a Greek inscription dating from the 4th century was discovered. This inscription reads: Ichthus which means fish and also forms the initials of the five titles of Jesus: ”Jesus Christ The Son of God”. Under some wooden boards, patches of the ancient mosaic floor can be glimpsed. In the Crusaders' time, floor marbles mirrored the brilliance of the gilded capitals. The Roof Since the removal of the decorated flat ceiling built by Justinian, the original pointed inner roof-structure is once more visible. Since the pre-Crusader times it has been of cedar wood with the rafters exposed. The present ceiling is from the 14th century, and it was restored in 1842. The outside roof was also restored and covered with lead because in the seventeenth century the Turks decided that the lead covering the roof could be put to better use in the form of bullets.
The Transept Beyond the transept the five aisles reappear; the two outer ones have one bay, the inner ones have two, all ending in a straight wall. The two side arms end in a semicircular apse similar to that of the center. In front of the central apse, stands the Iconostasis which was erected by the Greeks in the 17th century. It is a decorated screen across the width of the sanctuary, separating the altar and the main body of the church. It has three doors leading to the Temple. Religious pictures and icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Apostles, Saints and others are placed on it. The present iconostasis or screen was erected in 1764 to replace an earlier screen built by Patriarch Dositheos and destroyed in 1689. It is an elaborately carved and well proportioned piece of woodwork designed in three zones each containing a series of pictures. The most interesting of these are fourteen scenes from the Gospels, painted in Byzantine style, in rectangular panels above the first cornice. A 6-step staircase leads to the choir from where men enter the sanctuary and the presbytery. In this choir there is an artistically-carved throne used by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch or dignitaries visiting the Church. Originally the place of the present Iconostasis contained an octagonal structure covering the grotto, into which the pilgrims could probably look through a large circular opening and see the manger and the birth place without descending into the Grotto. Justinian's architects replaced the polygonal choir area with the transept that characterizes the present edifice. They also facilitated access to the crypt by building two sets of stairs, from the two sides of the great choir, that descend to the Grotto and meet before the Altar of the Nativity. Besides the Greeks, the Armenian Orthodox had succeeded in establishing them-selves in the basilica between 1810 and 1829 and in taking possession of the northern arm of the transept. In this area there are two altars both belonging to the Armenian Church. The one in the northern apse is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; the other, beyond the northern entrance of the Cave of the Nativity, is known as the Altar of the Kings, because here, according to a popular tradition, was where the Magi or the three wise men dismounted. To the left, in the southern apse there is a small chapel of St. Nicola. The southern apse opens onto the courtyard of the Greek Orthodox convent used by the Anglicans for choral services on Christmas Eve. This courtyard steps lead down into a series of burial grottoes extending under the southern aisles. On the east side of the courtyard the lower part of the 12th century bell tower can be seen. The present basilica belongs mainly to the Greek Orthodox, with shares and rights reserved for the Catholics and the Armenian Orthodox. The Protestants are allowed to hold a service on Christmas Eve in the open courtyard. |
