Jerusalem: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb... and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." (John 19:41-42)

Construction of the first Church of the Holy Sepulcher began in 326 by order of the Emperor Constantine. It was erected on the site of a 2nd-century Roman temple and shrine that, according to local tradition, was built over the place where Jesus had been crucified and buried. When the Roman buildings were demolished, a series of rock-cut tombs was discovered. One of the tombs was identified as that of Joseph of Armithea. The sloping bedrock was cut away around this tomb, leaving a freestanding shell (at the site of the present Edicule).

Little remains of the original Byzantine structure, which was burned and looted by the Persians in 614, partially rebuilt by the Patriarch Modestos, damaged by earthquake in 808, and destroyed in 1009 by order of the Fatamid Caliph al-Hakim. A portion was rebuilt again by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachus in 1048, but most of the present building is the result of 12th-century Crusader reconstruction as well as later renovations (the most recent work of restoration and preservation began in 1959 and is not yet completed). The present building encompasses half the area of the original Byzantine church, and only the Rotunda replicates the approximate shape and design of the 4th-century original.

Since the Crusades, the precincts and fabric of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher have come into the possession of three major denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the (Latin) Roman Catholic. Other communities - the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox - also possess certain rights and small properties in or about the building. The rights and privileges of all of these communities are protected by the Status Quo of the Holy Places (1852), as guaranteed in Article LXII of the Treaty of Berlin (1878).

Following the earthquake in 1927, the prevailing political authority (as provided by the Status Quo) had to intervene in order to carry out emergency structural repairs. Such intervention has not been necessary since 1959, when the three principal communities established a Common Technical Bureau.

Some issues, however, remain unresolved; one of these is the continuing dispute between the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox concerning ownership rights in the Chapel of the Ethiopians (on the roof of the Chapel of St. Helena). Since the dispute began, the government (as the prevailing political authority) has chosen not to intervene, in the hope that the two communities will resolve the matter between themselves.

   - Map of Jerusalem