Each year, Greccio, Italy, reenacts a living Nativity scene paying homage to Saint Francis of Assisi, who is credited with starting the exhibition that represents the birth of Jesus.

51,000-year-old cave painting may be earliest scene depicted through art. The artwork, an example of early storytelling, shows three humanoid figures and a pig.

The scene in St. Peter’s Square depicts not only Mary and Joseph standing beside the manger, but also St. Francis of Assisi, who organized the first Nativity scene in a cave in the Italian ...

The Church of the Nativity, seen here in 2012, purportedly marks the spot where Jesus Christ was born in a Bethlehem cave, though debate over the Messiah’s exact birthplace continues.

Christmas is year-round in Greccio, a small cliffside village in Lazio. The reason? This is where St Francis of Assisi created the first-ever nativity scene in a cave in 1223.

Bethlehem’s bombed-out nativity sculpture sends a powerful message. The scene of a devastated nativity cave symbolises the plight of Christ’s family — and Palestinians now.

This first living Nativity scene – which was famously depicted by Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone in the Arena Chapel of Padua, Italy – ushered in a new tradition of staging the ...

More than 50,000 years ago, humans painted a hunting scene in a cave in Indonesia that archaeologists say represents the oldest known example of storytelling in art history.

Europe. Slovenian nativity play staged through limestone cave. April 11, 2025. Actors and musicians entertained visitors to a Slovenian cave on Thursday (December 21) performing a recreation of ...