Church renovation lifts Christmas spirit in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (AP) — A historic renovation of the Church of the Nativity is lifting spirits in the biblical town of Bethlehem ahead of Christmas, offering visitors a look at ancient mosaics and columns that have been restored to their original glory for the first time in 600 years.
City officials hope the renovation at the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ will boost tourism and a weak economy in the Israelioccupied West Bank, and perhaps slow a decades-long drain of the Christian population from the lands where the faith was born.
“Christians are leaving the Holy Land due to the lack of peace and economic hardships and we are struggling to keep them in their homeland,” Bethlehem Mayor Anton Salman said. “This is one of the ways.”
The renovation started in 2013, a year after United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared the church a world heritage site, and is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The Palestinian Authority formed a committee of local Christian leaders to oversee the renovation and contracted an Italian company to carry out the project.
Ziad al-Bandak, the committee head, said it has collected $14 million out of $17 million needed. Roughly half of the funding has come from the Palestinian Authority and local Muslim and Christian businesses, and the rest from foreign donors.
“It has become such a beautiful church,” Ziad said.
“Every Christian in the world would love to see it now,” he added.
One of Christianity’s most sacred shrines, 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 built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who ruled from AD 527 to 565.
Neglected for decades before the renovation, the roof of the church was leaking, windows were broken, mosaics were covered in grime and walls and columns were damaged.
After five years of work, it has been transformed.