A city of around 40,000 inhabitants located in Judea, 4.97 miles south of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is known throughout the world as the birthplace of Christ and King David’s homeland.
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, and Ottomans have crowded its alleyways. Bethlehem is famous because of its tumultuous history. Behind its broken down façades, the city contains a precious legacy: houses with vaulted rooms that look out over a central courtyard, palaces of pink and white stone…
UNESCO initiated a restoration project of the historic center and its architectural emphasis.
Bethlehem (Beit Lehem) means “house of bread” in Hebrew; it was also called “Ephrata,” or “the fruitful.” The city is also known by the Aramaic name “Bayt Lahm.”
Bethlehem is first mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Genesis; it states that Rachel, Jacob’s wife, died in childbirth outside of Bethlehem, along the road to Efrat. Her tomb is venerated by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim pilgrims.
Emperor Constantine first erected the Basilica in 325, around the grotto where Jesus Christ was born. A 14-branch silver star is laid out on the ground; it bears the inscription “Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est,” which indicates that it is the spot where Christ was born. The Basilica combines a rectangular prayer room and an octagonal section where visitors circulate, and through which one has access to the grotto. The Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565), who wanted it to be even more spacious and beautiful, destroyed and then rebuilt it. A triple apse replaced the octagon. The Crusaders decorated it with rich mosaics that retraced the Savior’s family’s genealogical tree. Scenes from Jesus’ life are evoked by the transept and apses, fragments of which can still be made out.
The Basilica that one sees today is the oldest consecrated church in the world; over the centuries, it has escaped destruction many times.
Built in 1882 on top of the ruins of the Crusaders’ church and monastery, property of the Augustinians, this Franciscan church consists of vestiges of a Medieval cloister. The foundations of an ancient Byzantine monastery are found under its pavement; it is perhaps that of Saint Jerome who translated the Bible from Hebrew to Latin, starting in 384. In the south lateral nave, a staircase leads to a group of grottoes. A door found at the southwest corner of the cloister gives access to the Crusaders’ chapel; it was fitted out during the 12th century. Its mural frescoes were partially restored in 1950.
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