Agence France Presse
February 9, 2014 Sunday 3:21 AM GMT
Christian rivals find unity in Nativity church restoration
BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories, Feb 09 2014
When Pope Francis visits Bethlehem in May he will see scaffolding
covering the roof of the Church of the Nativity. It may be an eyesore,
but it symbolises a rare show of unity among rival Christian faiths
that are working together to restore the ancient basilica.
Built in the fourth century by the Roman Emperor Constantine and
restored by Justinian after a fire in the sixth century, the shrine
over the cave where Jesus is believed to have been born is undergoing
a major renovation.
The project, which will see the entire church restored, began last
September and is expected to cost 15 million euros ($20 million).
Following a historic agreement between the Palestinian Authority and
the three churches that administer the site in an uneasy partnership,
repairing the roof was designated as a priority.
Its rotting rafters, each weighing 20 tonnes, have not been repaired
for the past 200 years.
That task, at a cost of 1.9 million euros, was entrusted to a family
firm in Italy that specialises in the preservation of ancient
structures.
Marcello Piacenti, leader of the Italian-Palestinian renovation team,
said that, “damaged by fungus and damp, the wood fractures easily in
places.
“The project is about preserving what can be preserved in the best way
possible, such as the beam of the central nave,” he says.
“We will reuse the roof timber; 80 to 90 percent of the roof will be preserved.”
The rest of the wood — a matched supply of 300- to 400-year-old wood
of the same colour and density as the existing beams — arrived from
Italy last month.
The oldest beams date to 1470 when the Franciscans, the Roman Catholic
Church’s guardians of holy places, brought from Venice a shipment of
larch, a weather-resistant resinous wood.
Some 400 years later, the Greek Orthodox Church refurbished most of
the roofing with Anatolian oak, similar to Lebanese cedar, another
species native to the region that was used prior to 1300.
– ‘Crying out for unity’ –
“Between the sheets of (roofing) lead and the timbers, we are going to
put a waterproof felt which will guard against moisture and heat,”
Piacenti said.
Work on the roof also involves ensuring the protection of the
basilica’s magnificent Crusader-era mosaics and mediaeval frescoes,
which will be restored at a later stage.
The first phase is to be completed by September.
Father Stephane Milovich, a Franciscan and former caretaker at the
church, says it has turned out to be a blessing that the project is
getting under way only now, as a cooperative venture among his order,
the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian churches.
“A century ago the Greeks, the Armenians and the Franciscans wouldn’t
have cooperated,” he said. “We have a building which has not changed,
which is why we must save it.”
For Milovich, the basilica is a shared heritage for all of the Holy
Land’s churches.
“We have a common creed, a common faith. We have a church crying out
for unity instead of division,” he says.
In June 2012, the UN cultural body UNESCO overrode Israeli and US
objections to urgently grant World Heritage status to the Church of
the Nativity and its pilgrimage route.
Bethlehem lies in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and recognition of
the site was a diplomatic victory for the Western-backed Palestinian
Authority, which is playing a leading role in the restoration
programme.
“The Palestinian National Authority intervened with the blessing of
the three churches,” said Ziad Bandak, head of the presidential
commission for the renovation. “The churches are cooperating very well
with us.”
The roof restoration is being funded by the Palestinian private sector
and the Palestinian Authority, which is contributing 740,000 euros ($1
million). The rest is made up by donations from the Vatican, Hungary,
France, Greece and Russia.
“It is a sacred church which has seen many upsets over the centuries:
wars, earthquakes, as well as the Israeli siege of 2002, from which
you can still see the marks made by bullets, shrapnel and tear gas
grenades,” Bandak says.
He was referring to a dramatic incident in which dozens of Palestinian
militants pursued by the Israeli army took refuge in the church,
trapping scores of clerics and others inside for 39 days before
agreeing to give themselves up and be exiled.
“We are here to stay,” Bandak adds with a smile. “It’s as if my family
was babysitting the Virgin Mary.”
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