BETHLEHEM, West Bank— As visitors descend upon Bethlehem this holiday season, they will notice a different look for the Church of the Nativity. Wrapped in scaffolding, the basilica located at the traditional site of Jesus' birth is undergoing a much-needed facelift after 600 years.
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Experts say that water is leaking from the rooftop and threatens
to cause serious damage to mosaics and other priceless items.
Project manager Afif Tweme said the first stage of the project
began in September and is addressing the most pressing issues: the rooftop and
windows.
"The water also has a bad effect on the plastering
surfaces, on the mosaics, on the floors, on the frescoes. It could damage any,
any historical elements inside the church," said Tweme, who works for the
"Community Development Group," a Palestinian engineering consulting
firm.
The companies carrying out the works are obliged to minimize any
disruptions to visitors and make sure that pilgrims can "pass freely
inside the church and safely," he added.
The church is one of Christianity's most visited and sacred
shrines. Standing above the grotto where, according to tradition, Jesus was
born, the church attracted more than 2 million visitors last year. But the
building, with remnants up to 1,500 years old, has been neglected for decades.
Both the World Monuments Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit group
dedicated to protecting historic sites, and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO
have placed the church on their lists of endangered sites. And a high-tech
survey by a consortium of Italian experts in 2011 called for urgent repairs.
The city of Bethlehem is situated in a part of the West Bank
where the Palestinians have self-rule. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority
has taken the lead and is financing a great portion of the works, said Ziad
al-Bandak, an adviser on Christian affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas.
He said the government has provided $1 million, while an
additional $800,000 is coming from the private sector. The rest is coming from
European countries such as France, Hungary, Russia and Greece, contributing to
the roughly $3 million in total needed for the first phase, al-Bandak said.
Beyond the painstaking process of preserving a delicate holy
site, the work has been complicated by the sensitive relations among the three
Christian denominations that share ownership of the church.
The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches have
traditionally viewed each other with deep suspicion. They run the Nativity
Church according to a 19th century codex, known as the Status Quo, which
assigns responsibilities for upkeep that are jealously guarded by each
denomination. Relations are so fraught that these turf battles have
occasionally escalated into fistfights between clergymen.
A senior church official said the three denominations would
never have been able to reach an agreement on their own. But once the
Palestinian Authority stepped in, all three churches accepted the decision. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss the
matter with the media.
The first phase, expected to last one year, is being carried out
by "Piacenti," an Italian firm that specializes in the renovation of
historical sites. One by one, experts will repair the hundreds of wooden beams
in the roof.
Company president Giammarco Piacenti said the rooftop was
masterfully restored by Venetian carpenters in 1478. He said the project would
be conservative and seek to keep as many original pieces as possible.
"We'll save as many parts, even those in bad conditions, as
we can," he said. "We'll only replace pieces that are no longer
functional and can no longer help hold the roof. They will be as few as
possible and will be made of a compatible wood, of aged wood of the same type
and quality."
Aside from the roof and windows, other elements that will need
repair in the future are the external facade, internal plastering, wall mosaics
and paintings and wooden works, said Tweme. If funding is secured, the work
could take four to five years, he said.
The church was built in the 4th century by Saint Helena over a
cave where the Virgin Mary is said to have given birth. What pilgrims mostly
see today is the basilica church built by the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I,
who ruled from 527 to 565 AD.
The construction doesn't include the area that is the main focus
of the pilgrimage: the place located under the altar crypt that hosts the
14-pointed silver star marking the spot where, according to Christian
tradition, Jesus was born.
In spite of large scaffolding lining the sides of the nave near
the entrance, visitors don't seem to mind, at least for the moment. Sister
Aziza, an Eritrean nun who lives in Israel, welcomed what she says is
much-needed repair.
"I'm very grateful and happy that they're renovating it.
Otherwise it will fall," she said. "And it will be safer for people
and also to worship. It is a nice step that they agreed to renovate it, because
for so many years I've been waiting for this renovation."
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