The archaeology of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: a review of work 1947-97

Historical and archaeological analysis of the Church of the Nativity

“…The scholarly debate started already in the 16th and 17th centuries with the publications by both Greek and Franciscan authors who basically dealt with the origins of the site, its holy mementoes in their devotional and commemorative significance, and the properties and rights granted to each Christian community. From the 19th century onwards, the basilica has been investigated from the viewpoint of historical-religious topography [4,5], architectural history [6][7][8], structural analysis [9,10] and archaeology [11][12][13], and art history and iconography [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Whereas the early history of the building has been much discussed since the very beginnings, its developments in the Byzantine and Crusader periods have been more specifically investigated only in much more recent works.…”

“…Kühnel [71] and Pringle [8], on the other hand, were inclined towards an alternative view of the Constantinian church. They proposed that this would have consisted of a colonnaded atrium and a longitudinal body with a central nave and four flanking aisles, one bay shorter on the west than the present church.…”

“…The new excavations made it possible to clarify certain situations, in particular in the Justinian narthex containing the northeastern pilastro of the Constantinian atrium. Over and above the revised interpretation of the Basilica and of the adjacent structures, the most interesting contribution, however, comes from Bagatti's attention to the elevations and in particular to the structural elements of the western facade and the bell tower of the XII century [8,13].…”

“…The same does not hold true, however, for the monastic structures that grew up alongside the Basilica. The alterations to the facade took place during the XII century and involved the closure of two of the entrances into the narthex and the modification of the central entrance through the insertion of a narrower doorway with a pointed arch [8,38]. The bell-tower is located on the north side of the facade.…”

“…Three bells were found in 1863 in the medieval cloister and another 13 in 1906 outside the cloister a little further to the north. According to Elart the bells should be attributed to the XIII century [7,8]. The most significant interventions in the Basilica, apart from the addition of the bell-towers and the modification of the entrance[s], are those in the interior and in particular the redecoration of the ancient building through the introduction of cycles of representations and the paintings on the columns which constitute the most imposing cycle in the ambit of monumental painting within the Terra Santa [71].…”