Three Churches Agree to Repair Bethlehem's Grotto After 600 Years

Restoration work is expected to begin shortly at the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the cave revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, according to a joint announcement by the churches of the Holy Land reported from Jerusalem on 25 January 2026. The statement was issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Catholic Church's Custody of the Holy Land, and said the work is being carried out in collaboration with the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate.

"The restoration shall be executed by the Italian firm entrusted with the recent rehabilitation of the Basilica of the Nativity, ensuring continuity in method, craftsmanship, and artistic sensitivity toward a site of unparalleled sacred symbolism," the joint announcement said. "Preliminary preparations are complete, and the works are now on the threshold of commencement." The churches added that the project also includes technical reinforcement in adjacent sections structurally connected to the underground space, "reflecting both the architectural unity of the sanctuary and the cooperative spirit that preserves it for the entire world".

A cave under a church under a rule book

Bethlehem lies about ten kilometres south of Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and is administered by the Palestinian Authority. The Church of the Nativity above the grotto is among the oldest continuously used churches in the world, originally built in the fourth century and rebuilt in the sixth. Beneath its main altar the grotto is reached by narrow stairways; historical accounts indicate it was venerated before the church was raised above it, and over time it became an enclosed place of prayer, its stone worn smooth by centuries of use and lit by lamps maintained by different Christian communities.

Who may repair what, and when, is governed by a nineteenth-century settlement usually called the Status Quo. OSV News reported that the arrangement rests on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ottoman decrees and divides governance of the church between the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate; it described the announced work as the first restoration of the grotto in some 600 years, made on 23 January 2026 and backed by a 2024 Palestinian presidential decree on the grotto's restoration. Catholic Review reported the same three-way custodianship and described the Status Quo as a delicate balance that has held despite periods of friction.

Under such a system, agreement is the difficult part and the engineering is comparatively straightforward. Church officials emphasised that cooperation among the communities was what allowed the project to advance.

The basilica above it was rescued first

The grotto works follow a long campaign on the building over it. America magazine reported that the Italian conservation company Piacenti began work in April 2013 on the church's rotting wooden roof, whose leaks had destroyed much of the decoration below, and completed restoration of the surviving wall mosaics in June 2016, cleaning soot and candle smoke from roughly 1.55 million tesserae. Only a small fraction of the original mosaic surface still survives. The churches' statement did not name the company chosen for the grotto, describing it only as the Italian firm responsible for the recent basilica works.

A shrinking congregation around the shrine

Elias Zarina, a Christian from Jerusalem and a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy, told the Press Service of Israel that the initiative continues the renovation of churches in the Holy Land, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. "The Church of the Nativity was neglected for a long time. It is heartwarming to see the Christian communities cooperating to renovate it properly. It brings more tourists to the Holy Land," he said.

The original release set out the demographic backdrop: Christians made up 11% of the population of the whole Holy Land in 1922 and today account for about 1% of the population in the Palestinian Authority. In Bethlehem itself, Christians were 86% of residents in 1950 and about 10% at the last Palestinian census in 2017. Zarina told the Press Service of Israel in December that 142 Christian families had emigrated from the Bethlehem governorate since the Hamas attack on southern Israel of 7 October 2023.

What is still unclear

The announcement gave no start date, no completion date and no cost, and did not say who is paying. It did not name the contractor or describe the physical condition that makes the intervention necessary. It also did not say whether the grotto will close to pilgrims while the work is carried out.