Church of the Nativity - Clerestory Walls

Parts of the mosaic decoration applied to the clerestory walls in the Crusader era (1261-69) has been preserved. On the south side are depicted the ancestors of Christ and the seven Oecumenical Councils recognized by the Orthodox church - indicating that the mosaics were the work not of Western but of Greek artists - two mosaic artists from Constantinople, Basil and Ephraim, who were sent to Bethlehem by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel, a relative by marriage of Baldwin III, fourth king of the Frankish state.