On Thursday, 2nd September, the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, signed a historic official agreement in Bethlehem : that of the restoration of the roof of the Church of the Nativity of Jesus.
In the presence of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr. Salam Fayyad and Mr. Ziad Al Bandak, advisor to the President Mahmoud Abbas for Christian Affairs and also Chairman of the Committee for the renovation of the church, the Custos of the Holy Land, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and the representative of the Armenian Patriarch, Torkom II Manoogian, sealed the agreement for renovation. In the Basilica of the Nativity, as in all the sanctuaries to which the Status Quo applies, no renovation can be carried out without the agreement of the three «joint landlords ».
This agreement was made possible by the insistence of President Mahmoud Abbas who in November 2008 had already asked the Churches to reach an agreement. Adding a gesture to his words, the President of the Palestinian Authority released a budget of a million dollars, according to the news item by the Agence France Presse (AFP) on the event.
The Custos of the Holy land declared to the Franciscan Media Center : « This is the beginning of a new way of living together in Bethlehem. This very ancient basilica in need of restoration had become the symbol of our inability to speak to one another. I hope that it will, on the contrary, become the new space where the Churches will be able to show their capacity for collaboration. »
Professor Remigio Rossi, the head of the group of international experts for the renovation, was also present at the signature. The work should take 150 days but without knowing when it will begin.
Work urgently needed
Anybody who has visited the Basilica on rainy days cannot fail to have been surprised by the puddles on the floor. The roof, left without any real maintenance since its previous restoration in 1832, was greatly damaged, to the extent that the remains of the mosaics and frescoes were also in very poor condition.
The Basilica of Bethlehem is not only one of the most important holy places of Christianity, but it is also one of the oldest churches in the world. Built at the beginning of the 4th century by the Emperor Constantine, the Emperor Justinian did further work on it in the early 6th century but it was spared during the invasions of the Persians of Khosrow in the 7th century because the Magi are shown wearing oriental costumes.
Most of the present-day structure of the roof dates back to its major restoration around 1435-1479. In the report by UNESCO on the roof of the Basilica of the nativity in 2000, the experts stated that a roof is generally estimated to have a life of 150 years. They were amazed that it could have resisted three times as long.
Mab
In the presence of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr. Salam Fayyad and Mr. Ziad Al Bandak, advisor to the President Mahmoud Abbas for Christian Affairs and also Chairman of the Committee for the renovation of the church, the Custos of the Holy Land, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and the representative of the Armenian Patriarch, Torkom II Manoogian, sealed the agreement for renovation. In the Basilica of the Nativity, as in all the sanctuaries to which the Status Quo applies, no renovation can be carried out without the agreement of the three «joint landlords ».
This agreement was made possible by the insistence of President Mahmoud Abbas who in November 2008 had already asked the Churches to reach an agreement. Adding a gesture to his words, the President of the Palestinian Authority released a budget of a million dollars, according to the news item by the Agence France Presse (AFP) on the event.
The Custos of the Holy land declared to the Franciscan Media Center : « This is the beginning of a new way of living together in Bethlehem. This very ancient basilica in need of restoration had become the symbol of our inability to speak to one another. I hope that it will, on the contrary, become the new space where the Churches will be able to show their capacity for collaboration. »
Professor Remigio Rossi, the head of the group of international experts for the renovation, was also present at the signature. The work should take 150 days but without knowing when it will begin.
Work urgently needed
Anybody who has visited the Basilica on rainy days cannot fail to have been surprised by the puddles on the floor. The roof, left without any real maintenance since its previous restoration in 1832, was greatly damaged, to the extent that the remains of the mosaics and frescoes were also in very poor condition.
The Basilica of Bethlehem is not only one of the most important holy places of Christianity, but it is also one of the oldest churches in the world. Built at the beginning of the 4th century by the Emperor Constantine, the Emperor Justinian did further work on it in the early 6th century but it was spared during the invasions of the Persians of Khosrow in the 7th century because the Magi are shown wearing oriental costumes.
Most of the present-day structure of the roof dates back to its major restoration around 1435-1479. In the report by UNESCO on the roof of the Basilica of the nativity in 2000, the experts stated that a roof is generally estimated to have a life of 150 years. They were amazed that it could have resisted three times as long.
Mab