The New York Times – Italian Firm Restoring Nativity Church: Like Touching Heaven

ROME — The Italian firm restoring one of Christianity’s holiest sites — the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem — says it’s more than halfway finished with the 14 million-euro project, which has already uncovered a Crusades-era mosaic angel hidden under plaster. Piacenti SpA, a family-run conservation firm from the Tuscan town of Prato, won …

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The New York Times – Unesco Adds Nativity Church in Bethlehem to Heritage List

By ISABEL KERSHNER JERUSALEM — The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, along with the Pilgrimage Route, was added on Friday to Unesco’s World Heritage List, a move that was celebrated by Palestinians who hailed it as a significant political and diplomatic achievement as much as a cultural one. Hanan Ashrawi, who leads the Palestine …