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.
floor, and that s about it. in the late sixth century, the roman emperor justinian rebuilt the church. the crusaders expanded it and used it for the coronation of their kings into the 12th century. others have fought at this holy place the persians, the turks most recently, in april of 2002. when palestinian militants wanted by the israeli defense force took refuge here for 39 days. priests carried bodies of 10 palestinians who were killed when the church came under fire during the siege. [ mystical music plays ] beautiful altar. it is beautiful. we re walking up to the main altar area of this church from the greek orthodox tradition. and you can see that it s decorated in a way that is unfamiliar to us who are from the west, but they have a beautiful screen called an iconostasis with silver and gold depictions of the saints and the