Bethlehem olive wood Crafts

Bethlehem olive wood crafts, which are mainly Christian religious crafts are made of the locally cultivated olive trees. This raw olivewood material is obtained from the prunes of young olive trees, and the trunks of the old unproductive trees. The process of pruning trees is essential to the growth of the trees, therefore no trees are ever damaged or destroyed.

Olivewood in its nature is heavy, dense and durable and with distinctive grains, and due to the varying grains of the wood this makes every carved piece extraordinarily unique. It is difficult to match the grains of two pieces since the pattern and the color of the grains depends on the age of the tree.

The Christian olivewood carvings and crafts in Bethlehem began in the fourth century following the construction of the Nativity Church that was built on the traditional birth place of our Lord Jesus Christ. At that time Monks taught the local residents how to carve olive wood. In the sixteenth century a major development and growth in this industry took place due to the aid of the Franciscan fathers which they in turn brought Italian artisans to teach the residents of Bethlehem how to carve olive wood. This handicraft industry was passed from generation to generation until it was perfected and mastered continuing an ancient tradition of beautiful olive wood carvings in the Holy Land, producing many different products such as statues of Jesus, Madonna, Holy Family, Good Shepherd and rosaries, crosses, Nativity sets and cribs, olivewood jewelry boxes, Christmas ornaments and candles which almost all have the Christian religious element.

Our site is aimed to introduce this olive wood handcraft industry and to offer good quality products in competitive prices directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. Since this handicrafts industry plays a major role in the economy of Bethlehem as there are approximately 250 workshops supporting between 1500 - 2000 families.