The Restoration of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem

A lot has been said and written so far about the history of the church of the Nativity. Many are the reports, historical documents, scientific articles that can be referenced in retracing the evolution of the church from its origins until today. It is not the intention of the Authors to re-propose what has been said so far by authoritative sources and with the utmost abundance of details. The purpose of this book is only to accompany the reader along a path that began in the distant 2009 and is now approaching a conclusion, or at least what has been always considered a fundamental goal. The restoration of the church of the Nativity has been and will always be an event of extraordinary cultural, religious and political importance. At present the church is the only Byzantine monument in all Palestine handed down in its almost original form, for which a global restoration was designed and above all completed with such a vast use, never seen in precedence, of economic and human resources, diverse and highly qualified professional skills and advanced technologies and instruments. By summarizing the work experiences carried out in the last decade throughout the church in a coordinated and interactive manner, this book tries to provide, through the description of the restoration interventions made and using the big amount of information collected onsite, a more comprehensive and organic knowledge of the church as a whole. Therefore, in exposing the state of conservation of each part of the church (roof structures and covering, masonry, plasters, mosaics, columns and paintings) and the interventions of restoration carried out, reference will be made to all those archaeological findings discovered onsite during the work phases and through which it will be possible to relocate in their place some tesserae of the large mosaic representing the history of the church. It is hoped that every reader has something to learn from the results of this restoration campaign and that a fruitful intellectual exchange can be established among architects, restorers, art historians and engineers, like the one which took place daily on the scaffolding of the church throughout these years. Each chapter of the book refers to a specific part of the church and describes in detail the conservation and restoration interventions carried out on the basis of previous historical studies, surveys, analyses of the state of conservation, tests on materials carried out onsite and in Laboratory. The topics are treated with scientific rigor but at the same time in a very discursive way and by using a simple and easily understandable language even by those who for the first time approach the problems of the restoration of historical buildings. In a narrative style, which is mainly based on a reasoned description of the interventions performed, the Authors will try to exploit the reader's ability to immediately understand the nature of the problems and the reasons behind the choice of particular techniques or procedures. With reference to each intervention and at the end of each Chapter some simple guidelines are also provided for the maintenance of what has been restored.