Iurii A. Artamonov*, Alexei A. Gippius**, Ilia V. Zaitsev***
*Institute of General History RAS, Moscow (artamonov5@yandex.ru)
**National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow (agippius@mail.ru)
***Margarita Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow (iliaz@libfl .ru)

Key words: Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Slavonic epigraphy, 12–17 centuries, Old Russian pilgrimage.

The article deals with the publication of nine East Slavic inscriptions in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem dated back to the 12–17 cc. These graffiti provide an epigraphic evidence of East Slavic pilgrimage to the Holy Land in early and late medieval era.