Banksy’s ‘Scar of Bethlehem’ Nativity Scene appears at The Walled Off Hotel, 2019
The Walled Off Hotel opened its doors this morning with a striking new addition. Overnight, Banksy installed a Christmas artwork titled Scar of Bethlehem inside the hotel, positioned between the fireplace and reception.
Banksy ‘Scar of Bethlehem’, The Walled of hotel. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.com
The artwork reimagines the traditional Christian Nativity scene, placing Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus before a representation of the West Bank separation barrier rather than within the familiar stable setting associated with the birth of Christ.
Above the family, a large impact scar breaks through the concrete wall and forms the Star of Bethlehem. It is this transformation that gives the work its title. A symbol traditionally associated with hope, guidance and the arrival of Christ becomes a visible wound in the architecture surrounding Bethlehem.
The words LIBRE, LOVE and PAIX, the French word for peace, appear across the wall alongside a peace symbol, introducing a softer visual language against the damaged concrete.
Banksy ‘Scar of Bethlehem’, The Walled of hotel. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.com
Three wrapped gifts of different sizes are placed before the Nativity scene, recalling the offerings traditionally brought to the infant Jesus by the Three Wise Men. Their presence makes the scene immediately recognisable as a Christmas image, while the wall behind it brings the biblical story into the contemporary landscape of Bethlehem.
Banksy ‘Scar of Bethlehem’, The Walled of hotel. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.com
The Meaning of Banksy’s Scar of Bethlehem
The strength of Scar of Bethlehem lies in the collision between familiar religious imagery and the physical reality of the separation wall. Banksy retains the visual language of the Nativity while allowing the architecture surrounding Bethlehem to become part of the Christmas story itself.
The scar-shaped star is particularly powerful because the same mark can be read simultaneously as damage and illumination. It shines above the manger like the traditional Star of Bethlehem, yet its form remains inseparable from the fractured wall through which it appears.
Banksy’s Christmas Art in Bethlehem
Scar of Bethlehem continues a theme Banksy explored in Bethlehem two years earlier through Peace on Earth and Cherubs, where traditional Christmas imagery was similarly placed against the contemporary political landscape.
Those works appeared alongside The Alternativity, the alternative Nativity production created around Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel in 2017.
The artwork also belongs to the wider story of The Walled Off Hotel, where Banksy brought together art, history, tourism and the realities of life beside the West Bank barrier.
Scar of Bethlehem forms part of Banksy’s much broader artistic history across the region. Explore the complete guide to Banksy’s art in Palestine.
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