Jerusalem: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
One of the holiest of places in the Christian world is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. There was a Basilica built here by the Emperor Constantine in 335 AD and over the years there have been various invasions, desecrations and re-building of the Church.
The current building was built by the Crusaders in 1th 12th Century and is shared by the Armenian, Coptic, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Each of these groups jealously guard the spaces allotted to them; in fact, there have been fistfights over territory from time to time: perhaps not the greatest testimony to Christianity!
There is much historical evidence to back up the contention that this is indeed the spot not only where Our Lord was crucified but also where He was buried.
Note: Some tours (usually Protestant) will take you to the “Garden Tomb”. This spot is especially popular with Protestant groups. Although the appearance is much like what you would have expected when Our Lord was entombed, there is no evidence that the “Garden Tomb” is the site of burial and resurrection, and it is not a place honored by Catholics. It is, perhaps, interesting as giving you a glimpse of what the tomb of Jesus might have looked like at the time, but that is the extent of it.
As Jerome Murphy-O’Connor wrote in his ‘The Holy Land : An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700’, describing the Garden Tomb, “It is much easier to pray here than in the Holy Sepulchre, unfortunately there is no possibility that it is in fact the place where Christ was buried.”
Another point of interest in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the tomb of Baldwin IV, known as the Leper King. He was the king of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death in 1185. He was admired by his contemporaries and later historians for his willpower and dedication to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the face of his debilitating leprosy.
Click here for the official website of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Photos courtesy Church of the Holy Sepulchre