ARTDAILY
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| Foreign students of the Bethlehem Icon Center work on their painting during their course, in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem. THOMAS COEX / AFP.
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BETHLEHEM (AFP).- Down a Bethlehem alleyway, sunlight illuminates a golden icon of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, signaling the revival of an ancient art being practised in the workshop inside. The building near the Church of the Nativity -- the site where Christians believe Jesus was born -- houses a group of enthusiasts specializing in the sacred art of iconography. They are doing so some 2,000 years after Christian iconography began in nearby Jerusalem -- also where Christians believe Jesus was resurrected after his crucifixion, to be commemorated this Sunday for Easter. They work in both silence and in prayer, with their art a far cry from the cheap mass-produced icons sold in souvenir shops to tourists and pilgrims. [l
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| Foreign students of the Bethlehem Icon Center present the works executed during their course to be blessed by an archbishop, in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem on April 11, 2017. THOMAS COEX / AFP. |
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