local tradition held this as jesus birthplace, and so in 326 a.d., helena, the mother of the emperor constantine, built the first church of the nativity here. it was restored by the emperor justinian in 529 a.d. and enhanced later on by the crusaders. well, i ve also heard that the idea behind the door was to make people bow down. to be humble, yeah. it s not entirely it s not impossible, by any means. once inside this ancient building, visitors see a sight drastically different from the humble stable of the bible the greek orthodox main altar. very ornate. it s extremely ornate. you have the iconostasis. behind it is the altar, and then you see the choir stalls for the monks on either side. and this is where the liturgy is sung every sunday every day, in fact. the original church was an octagon, built over the venerated cave. it s now below the altar, in the grotto of the nativity.
where space was tight. either way mary would have gone out to the cave or stable. local tradition held this as jesus birthplace until in 326 a.d. helena, the mother of the emperor constantine built the first church of the nativity here. it was restored by the emperor justinian in 529 a.d., and enhanced later on by the crusaders. well, i ve also heard that the idea behind the door was to make people bow down and to be humble. yes. it s not entirely it s not impossible by any means. once inside this ancient building visitors see a sight drastically different from the humble stable of the bible. the greek orthodox main altar. very ornate. it s extremely ornate. you have the altar, and then you see the choir stalls for the monks. on either side. and this is where the liturgy is sung every sunday, every day, in fact. the original church was an
where a woman reportedly wipes his face and the image of jesus is left on the cloth. the woman is called veronica which means true image but there is no reference to this in the new testament. the one thing historians, archaeologists and pilgrims agree on is this is the likely site of the crucifixion, gogitha, the place of the skull, in greek. we know he was crucified in an abandoned quarry and one of the walls looked like a skull and the church of the holy sepulcher was built in 326 ad after the skull-shaped rock. this is the rock of golgitha, which is like a spire, sticking up from the floor. reporter: the father says when pilgrims play at the last four stations inside the holy sepulcher church they are in the right place. reporter: this is where he