1. Church of the Nativity
Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity is top of the town’s sightseeing list and is said to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
A church has sat here continuously since Byzantine Emperor Constantine built a chapel on this spot in the 4th century AD.
This was superseded by a 6th-century basilica, commissioned by Emperor Justinian, which was again built over by the Crusaders in the 12th century.
The central doorway shows this overlap work of many centuries, with the original door surround and the relief-decorated architrave of Justinian’s church still in place.
The Crusaders reduced the size of the entrance, inserting a doorway with a pointed arch and walling in the upper part of the original one. Later, the doorway was further reduced in order to prevent the Mamluks from riding into the church on horseback. It is now only 1.2 meters high so that visitors must bend down on entering.
Inside, the interior has essentially preserved the tranquil monumental trappings of the 6th century.
2. St. Catherine’s Church
Next door to the Church of the Nativity is St. Catherine’s Church, built by the Franciscans over an earlier church in 1881.
A flight of steps in the south aisle leads down to the northern part of the cave system underneath. To the left is the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, commemorating Herod’s massacre of the children of Bethlehem, while straight ahead is St. Joseph’s Chapel.
To the right are the Chapel of St. Eusebius, the tombs of St. Paula and her daughter Eustochium, and the tomb of St. Jerome who is heavily connected to the church and said to have written the Vulgate (Latin translation of the bible) while living in a cave here.
On the rear wall is the stone bench on which the remains of St. Jerome rested until they were taken to Rome for burial in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Address: Manger Square, Bethlehem
