Church of the Nativity - Transepts

The choir and transepts have semicircular apses. In the north transept are the Armenian altars of the Virgin and the Three Kings; in the south transept is the altar of the Circumcision, which, like the high altar behind the iconostasis, belongs to the Greeks. From the south transept, in the apse of which is a door leading to the adjoining Greek Orthodox monastery, a finely carved doorway with a pointed arch dating from the Frankish period gives access to the stairs leading down to the Grotto of the Nativity (12.30m/40ft long by 3.15m/10ft across). The actual place where Jesus was born is marked by a silver star with the Latin inscription "Hic de virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est" ("Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary")