Church of the Nativity - Nave

The nave is 54m/177ft long by 46m/151ft across. The roof of the lateral aisles and the clerestory of the nave are borne on four rows of eleven monolithic columns with Corinthian capitals, which were originally gilded. Two openings in the floor of the nave allow visitors to see mosaics on the floor of the Constantinian church of 325, which is 60cm/2ft below the present floor level. The font in the south aisle dates from the time of Justinian.

Paintings of the Crusader period have also been preserved on the columns in the nave. They include figures of saints (St George and King Canute of Denmark) and Baldwin I's helmet, with a swan as its crest. (Baldwin, who was crowned first king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in 1100,