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88-615: The area just south of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has a long tradition dating to the days of Judas Maccabeus in the 2nd century BC, based on incidents recorded in the Second Book of Maccabees . According to the legend, King Antiochus V proceeded to Jerusalem to punish the High Priest for plundering David's Tomb . While on Golgotha , the king was directed in a divine vision to pardon

176-986: A German -speaking congregation, and an indigenous Arabic -speaking congregation. The church is also the headquarters of the German Propst and the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ). In order to secure equal representation, in 1868 the Sultan assigned the western part of the Muristan to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate . It is now occupied by the Greek bazaar , which specializes in leather goods. A ceremonial gateway off of Muristan Street leads to this Muristan area, called Suq Aftimos, and from thence to

264-523: A Christian holy place. Excavations of the Muristan were conducted around the start of the 20th century, and showed that the Hospitaller complex occupied an approximately square area measuring 160 yards (east-west) and 143 yards (north-south). In the early decades of the twentieth century little was left of the original buildings. The remains included the Church of Mar Hanna, a series of arches on David Street, and

352-540: A concession, the mosque in Constantinople was reopened and the khutba sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name. Muslim sources say a by-product of the agreement was the renunciation of Islam by many Christians who had been forced to convert under al-Hakim's persecutions. In addition, the Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by al-Hakim and

440-570: A flat foundation for a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus . The temple remained until the early fourth century. After seeing a vision of a cross in the sky in 312, Constantine the Great began to favour Christianity and signed the Edict of Milan legalizing the religion. The Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius asked Constantine for permission to dig for the tomb. With the help of Eusebius (a Bishop of Caesarea) and Macarius, three crosses were found near

528-490: A former advisor of Romanos. Theophano allied with Nikephoros Phokas , a celebrated general and opponent of Bringas. In return for her hand, the childless Nikephoros gave his sacred pledge to protect her children and their interests. Three months after Romanos' death, supporters of Nikephoros ousted Bringas from power. Nikephoros was crowned emperor in the presence of his nominal co-emperors, Constantine and Basil. A month later he married their mother. Six years later, Nikephoros

616-682: A gift to the convent of Saint Lawrence in Amalfi, which probably had some connection to blessed Gerard the founder of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem the Knights Hospitaller . In Palestine and Syria , there was a revolt among the Bedouins (1024–1029). In an agreement in 1027 between Ali az-Zahir and Constantine VIII , Constantine VIII allowed the name of the caliph to be acknowledged in

704-541: A higher fourth-century wall built to support Constantine's basilica. After the excavations of the early 1970s, the Armenian authorities converted this archaeological space into the Chapel of Saint Vartan , and created an artificial walkway over the quarry on the north of the chapel, so that the new chapel could be accessed (by permission) from the Chapel of Saint Helena. After seven decades of being held together by steel girders,

792-413: A layer of debris was visible. This was cleared in the next day, and a partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved was revealed. By the night of 28 October, the original limestone burial bed was shown to be intact. The tomb was resealed shortly thereafter. Mortar from just above the burial bed was later dated to the mid-fourth century. On 25 March 2020, Israeli health officials ordered

880-596: A lunatic asylum in what had been the conventual church, and it was at this time that the area came to be referred to as the Muristan . The hospital facilities continued to be used for the care of the sick and wounded. The site was deserted in the 16th century, and the magnificent structures eventually fell into ruin. In 1868, the Sultan Abdulaziz presented the eastern part of this area to Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia , during his visit to Jerusalem. The prince

968-738: A series of successful wars. He died childless on 15 December 1025 and Constantine, a sixty-five-year-old widower, became the sole emperor as Constantine VIII. During his long term as co-emperor, he had been content to enjoy the privileges of imperial status, without concerning himself with state affairs. Sole rulership did not fundamentally alter this desire "to pass his life wallowing in extravagant pleasures". The Byzantine aristocracy had been rigorously controlled by Basil II. By comparison, they judged Constantine to be "[d]evoid of any semblance of moral fibre", and worked steadily to extract concessions from him. Unqualified men received senior government posts, and Basil's land laws were dropped under pressure from

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1056-562: A set of short intersecting streets with shops and a few cafes. The street arrangements were constructed in 1903 by the Greek Orthodox authority. In the centre of the bazaar area is an ornamental fountain (19th century); at the north end is the Mosque of Omar , built in 1216 by Saladin's son to commemorate Caliph Omar 's visit to Jerusalem in 638, when he prayed on the steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre instead of inside so that it could remain

1144-532: A tomb; one, which was said to have cured people of death , was presumed to be the True Cross , on which Jesus was crucified , leading the Romans to believe that they had found Calvary . About 326, Constantine ordered that the temple to Jupiter or Venus be replaced by a church. After the temple was torn down and its ruins removed, the soil was removed from the cave, revealing a rock-cut tomb that Macarius identified as

1232-513: Is collected together an enormous multitude of sick people. Both men and women. Who are tended and restored to health daily at very great expense. When I was there I learned that the whole number of these sick people amounted to two thousand, of whom sometimes in the course of one day and night more than fifty are carried out dead, while many other fresh ones keep continually arriving. What more can I say? The same house supplies as many people outside it with victuals as it does those inside, in addition to

1320-612: The Aedicule by Komnenos had deteriorated badly and was detaching from the underlying structure; from 1947 until restoration work in 2016–17, it was held in place with an exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities . After the care of the British Empire , the Church of England had an important role in the appropriation of the Holy Sepulcher, such as funds for

1408-624: The Church of the Anastasis , Anastasis being Greek for Resurrection. After the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War , Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. In AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian began the building of a Roman colony, the new city of Aelia Capitolina , on the site. About AD 135, he ordered that a cave containing a rock-cut tomb be filled in to make

1496-555: The Holy Land . This hospice was most likely destroyed about fourteen years later when Jerusalem fell to the Persian army, the Christian inhabitants were slaughtered, and their churches and monasteries destroyed (see Revolt against Heraclius ). The building was probably restored after Jerusalem fell again under Byzantine dominion in 628 . Arab rule after 637 allowed freedom of worship, and

1584-609: The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) declared the visibly deteriorating Aedicule structure unsafe. A restoration of the Aedicule was agreed upon and executed from May 2016 to March 2017. Much of the $ 4 million project was funded by the World Monuments Fund , as well as $ 1.3 million from Mica Ertegün and a significant sum from King Abdullah II of Jordan . The existence of the original limestone cave walls within

1672-484: The Muristan . This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death. According to their own family lore, the Muslim Nuseibeh family has been responsible for opening the door as an impartial party to the church's denominations already since the seventh century. However, they themselves admit that

1760-507: The Via Dolorosa , representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus . The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis ('Resurrection'). The Status Quo , an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to

1848-688: The dedication of the church on 31 October 1898 ( Reformation Day ), when he and his wife, Augusta Victoria , became the first western rulers to visit Jerusalem. The Church of the Redeemer, under control of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) through the Evangelical Jerusalem Foundation (Evangelische Jerusalemstiftung, EJSt) currently houses the ELCA -sponsored English -speaking congregation,

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1936-602: The infirmary . The earliest description of the first hospital of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John in Jerusalem was written by a German pilgrim John of Würzburg who visited Jerusalem in about the year 1160: Over against the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the opposite side of the way towards the south, is a beautiful church built in honour of John the Baptist, annexed to which is a hospital, wherein in various rooms

2024-456: The (smaller) Muristan. Hadrian built a large temple to the goddess Venus , at whose location Emperor Constantine the Great later built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . The earliest historical mention of the location Muristan is in AD 600, when a certain Abbot Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims to

2112-423: The 1970–78 restoration works and excavations inside the building, and under the nearby Muristan bazaar, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white meleke limestone was struck. East of the Chapel of Saint Helena, the excavators discovered a void containing a second-century drawing of a Roman pilgrim ship, two low walls supporting the platform of Hadrian's second-century temple, and

2200-537: The Aedicule was confirmed, and a window was created to view this from the inside. The presence of moisture led to the discovery of an underground shaft resembling an escape tunnel carved into the bedrock, seeming to lead from the tomb. For the first time since at least 1555, on 26 October 2016, marble cladding that protects the supposed burial bed of Jesus was removed. Members of the National Technical University of Athens were present. Initially, only

2288-514: The Baptist. The members of the Order thus became known as Knights of St. John or Hospitallers. The formal establishment of the Knights Hospitaller under Brother Gerard was confirmed by a Papal bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond. His successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence , significantly enlarged

2376-624: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the Church of the Redeemer , marking a Lutheran presence at the site. The church was named either for the Resurrection of Jesus , or for his tomb, which is at its focal point. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is also known as the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Sepulchre . Eastern Christians also call it the Church of the Resurrection and

2464-757: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad ) until the Crusaders' arrival in 1099. Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II , when calling for the First Crusade , was the threat to Constantinople from the Seljuk invasion of Asia Minor in response to

2552-510: The Church of the Redeemer offers the possibility to commit more than 2000 years of history of the city of Jerusalem by walking through it. Gates 1. Jaffa 2. Zion 3. Dung 4. Golden 5. Lions 6. Herod 7. Damascus 8. New ( Double, Single, Tanners ' ) Al-Mawazin Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also known as the Church of

2640-601: The Egyptian vizier, Al Afdal. Towards the end of the Egyptian occupation (July 1099), the Hospital for Women was being managed by a noble Roman lady, named Agnes, while the Hospital for Men was under the direction of a monk known as Brother Gerard . In the First Crusade , during the siege of Jerusalem (1099) , the Egyptian governor, Iftikhar ad Dawla, imprisoned Brother Gerard. When Jerusalem fell to Godfrey of Bouillon , he freed Brother Gerard, allowed him to resume his management of

2728-486: The Emperor Heraclius rebuilt the church after recapturing the city. After Jerusalem came under Islamic rule , it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the city's Christian sites, prohibiting their destruction or use as living quarters. A story reports that the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony, but at the time of prayer, turned away from

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2816-519: The First Crusade on 15 July 1099. The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage , and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. The classical theory is that Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon , who became the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem , decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ('Protector [or Defender] of

2904-562: The High Priest, and to build a hospital for the care of the sick and poor on that spot. In 1496, William Caoursin, Vice-Chancellor of the Hospitallers, wrote that Judas Maccabaeus and John Hyrcanus founded the hospital on that spot. Doron Bar suggested that the Tenth Legion 's camp, established on the ruins of Jerusalem following its destruction in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE),

2992-505: The Holy Sepulchre'). According to the German priest and pilgrim Ludolf von Sudheim , the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient Georgians ", and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given to them by the pilgrims at the south door of the church. By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found

3080-590: The Hospital for Men, and contributed resources to his work. Gerard adopted the policy of receiving all needy patients, irrespective of religion. While the Hospital for Women remained under the control of the Benedictines, Brother Gerard broke off from that Order, adopted the Augustinian rule and organised the Fratres Hospitalarii into a regularly constituted Religious Order under the protection of saint John

3168-628: The Old City, were made part of Jordan. In 1967, Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War , and that area has remained under Israeli control ever since. Under Israeli rule, legal arrangements relating to the churches of East Jerusalem were maintained in coordination with the Jordanian government. The dome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored again in 1994–97 as part of extensive modern renovations that have been ongoing since 1959. During

3256-571: The Resurrection , is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem . The church is also the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem . Some consider it the holiest site in Christianity and it has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since the fourth century . According to traditions dating to the fourth century, the church contains both

3344-663: The True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; the cistern later became the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross , but there is no evidence of the site's identification before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos. William of Tyre , chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the rebuilding of

3432-507: The appeal of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abbasids) by the knights of

3520-500: The area through diaconal and missionary work. The German government contributed to the process of removing rubble in the area and rebuilding. In the late 1800s, they rebuilt the Crusader church of St. Mary Latina as the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer ( Erlöserkirche ). The old cloisters, refectory, and original plan of the medieval church were preserved in the present neo-Romanesque building. Kaiser Wilhelm II personally attended

3608-508: The aristocracy of Anatolia . These interactions with Constantine were not without risk; when challenged, or led to suspect conspiracies, the emperor responded with impulsive cruelty. Condemned members of the elite suffered torture or were sentenced to blinding . The start of the decline of the Byzantine Empire has been linked to Constantine's accession to the throne. His reign has been described as "an unmitigated disaster", "a break up of

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3696-431: The baptistery, and the north chapel the chamber in which the patriarch chrismated the newly baptized before leading them into the rotunda north of this complex. Now they are dedicated as (from south to north) The 12th-century Crusader bell tower is just south of the Rotunda, to the left of the entrance. Its upper level was lost in a 1545 collapse. In 1719, another two storeys were lost. The wooden doors that compose

3784-440: The boundless charity which it daily bestowed upon poor people who beg their bread from door to door and do not lodge in the house, so that the whole sum of its expenses can surely never be calculated even by the managers and stewards thereof. In addition to all these moneys expended upon the sick and upon other poor people, this same house also maintains in its various castles many persons trained to all kinds of military exercises for

3872-411: The burial site of Jesus. A shrine was built on the site of the tomb Macarius had identified as that of Jesus, enclosing the rock tomb walls within its own. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, planned by the architect Zenobius, was built as separate constructs over two holy sites: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre site has been recognized since early in the fourth century as the place where Jesus

3960-424: The church and prayed outside. He feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius of Alexandria adds that Umar wrote a decree saying that Muslims would not inhabit this location. The building suffered severe damage from an earthquake in 746. Early in the ninth century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage

4048-506: The church in Romanesque style and added a bell tower . These renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time. The church became the seat of the first Latin patriarchs and the site of the kingdom's scriptorium . Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders ( Godfrey , Baldwin I , Baldwin II , Fulk , Baldwin III , Amalric , Baldwin IV and Baldwin V –

4136-429: The church in the mid-12th century. The Crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they transformed this space into a chapel dedicated to Helena , widening their original excavation tunnel into a proper staircase. The Crusaders began to refurnish

4224-412: The church, which was completed in 1048. After it was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, it continued to undergo modifications, resulting in a significant departure from the original structure. Several renovations and restorations were made under the Ottomans. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule . Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of

4312-402: The city streets. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as "a sort of Via Dolorosa in miniature" since little or no rebuilding took place on the site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the 11th century found much of the sacred site in ruins. Control of Jerusalem, and thereby

4400-434: The decoration was once inlaid with pieces of glass and fine marble; it indicates that the relic was the front of the church's high altar from the Crusader era (c. 1149), which was later used by the Greek Orthodox until being damaged in the 1808 fire. The courtyard facing the entrance to the church is known as the parvis . Two streets open into the parvis: St Helena Road (west) and Suq ed-Dabbagha (east). Around

4488-424: The defence of the land of the Christians against the invasion of the Saracens. After the Siege of Jerusalem in October 1187, all Christians were driven out of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin . The Hospitallers were permitted to leave ten of their number in the city to care for the wounded until they were able to travel. Saladin turned the Hospitallers buildings over to the Mosque of Omar . His nephew in 1216 instituted

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4576-536: The documents held by various Christian denominations only mention their role since the 12th century, in the time of Saladin, which is the date more generally accepted. After retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 , Saladin entrusted the Joudeh family with the key to the church, which is made of iron and 30 centimetres (12 in) long; the Nuseibehs either became or remained its doorkeepers. Constantine VIII Constantine VIII ( Greek : Κωνσταντῖνος , Kōnstantinos ; 960 – 11/12 November 1028)

4664-443: The dome of the rotunda to collapse and smashing the Aedicule's exterior decoration. The rotunda and the Aedicule's exterior were rebuilt in 1809–10 by architect Nikolaos Ch. Komnenos of Mytilene in the contemporary Ottoman Baroque style. The interior of the antechamber, now known as the Chapel of the Angel , was partly rebuilt to a square ground plan in place of the previously semicircular western end. Another decree in 1853 from

4752-427: The first eight rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem ) were buried in the south transept and inside the Chapel of Adam . The royal tombs were looted during the Khwarizmian sack of Jerusalem in 1244 but probably remained mostly intact until 1808 when a fire damaged the church. The tombs may have been destroyed by the fire, or during renovations by the Greek Orthodox custodians of the church in 1809–1810. The remains of

4840-421: The holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict . The church seems to have been largely in the hands of Greek Orthodox patriarch Athanasius II of Jerusalem (c. 1231–47) during the last period of Latin control over Jerusalem. Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians in 1244. There was certainly a recognisable Nestorian ( Church of the East ) presence at the Holy Sepulchre from

4928-439: The hostel and a large number of other buildings in Jerusalem. In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the caliph Ali az-Zahir to rebuild the hospice, monastery and chapel in Jerusalem. Among these merchants from Amalfi and Salerno was also Mauros, merchant from Amalfi, of a family from Constantinople , Miletus and Amalfi, who gave together with his mother Anna and her brother Constantine

5016-415: The kings may still be in unmarked pits under the church's pavement. The church was lost to Saladin , along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the site. Emperor Frederick II (r. 1220–50) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the consequence that

5104-470: The longest-reigning amongst all Roman emperors since Augustus . Constantine displayed a lifelong lack of interest in politics, statecraft and the military, and during his brief sole reign the government of the Byzantine Empire suffered from mismanagement and neglect. He had no sons and was instead succeeded by Romanos Argyros , husband of his daughter Zoe . Constantine was born in 960, two years after his brother Basil . Their parents were Romanos II ,

5192-408: The main entrance are the original, highly carved arched doors. Today, only the left-hand entrance is currently accessible, as the right doorway has long since been bricked up. The entrance to the church leads to the south transept , through the crusader façade in the parvis of a larger courtyard. This is found past a group of streets winding through the outer Via Dolorosa by way of a souq in

5280-412: The maintenance of external infrastructures, and the abolition of territorial claims near the Temple of the Holy Sepulcher, the Protestant Church allowed to carry out the elimination of taxes from the Holy Sepulcher, currently the Anglican and Lutheran dioceses of Jerusalem are allowed to attend Armenian cults. In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and where the church was located, in

5368-426: The mosques in the emperor's domain and the mosque at Constantinople to be restored. The hospice, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, took in Christian pilgrims travelling to visit the holy sites. To the east of this hospital, separated from it by a lane, a new hospital for pilgrims was built in 1080. Both hospitals remained under the control of the Benedictine abbot. In 1078, Jerusalem

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5456-429: The new heads of state; nominally the brothers were equals, but Basil devoted himself to the responsibilities of his office and emerged as the senior Basileus . Constantine had no comparable interest in state business, and never developed any. Apart from participating in a military campaign in 989, which ended without any combat, he occupied his years as Basil's colleague with private interests. In his youth Constantine

5544-451: The original rock or taking small pieces as souvenirs. A marble slab was placed over the limestone burial bed where Jesus's body is believed to have lain. After the renovation of 1555, control of the church oscillated between the Franciscans and the Orthodox, depending on which community could obtain a favourable firman from the " Sublime Porte " at a particular time, often through outright bribery. Violent clashes were not uncommon. There

5632-411: The parvis are a few smaller structures. South of the parvis, opposite the church: On the eastern side of the parvis, south to north: North of the parvis, in front of the church façade or against it: A group of three chapels borders the parvis on its west side. They originally formed the baptistery complex of the Constantinian church. The southernmost chapel was the vestibule, the middle chapel

5720-447: The reestablishment of a patriarch in Jerusalem. Contemporary sources credit the emperor with spending vast sums in an effort to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after this agreement was made. Still, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins." The rebuilt church site consisted of "a court open to

5808-404: The remains of the north door of the Hospitaller's church of St. Mary Latina, which were incorporated into the modern Church of the Redeemer. What remains of the hospital today is a modern memorial situated in a small recess barred from the street with an iron gate and an enclosed yard. The "Durch die Zeiten" (lit. "Across Time") archaeological park opened in November 2012, located below the nave of

5896-491: The restored hospice was probably allowed to continue serving its original purpose. In 800, Charlemagne , Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , enlarged the hostel and added a library to it. Bernard the Monk, who wrote an account of his visit to Jerusalem in 870, mentions a Benedictine hospital close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 993, Hugh Marquis of Tuscany and his wife endowed the hospital with considerable property in Italy. In 1009, Fatimid caliph Al Hakim destroyed

5984-471: The site closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic . According to the keeper of the keys, it was the first such closure since 1349, during the Black Death . Clerics continued regular prayers inside the building, and it reopened to visitors two months later, on 24 May. During church renovations in 2022, a stone slab covered in modern graffiti was moved from a wall, revealing Cosmatesque -style decoration on one face. According to an IAA archaeologist,

6072-499: The site where Jesus was crucified at Calvary , or Golgotha, and the location of Jesus's empty tomb , where he was buried and resurrected . Both locations are considered immensely holy sites by Christians. In earlier times, the site was used as a Jewish burial ground, upon which a pagan temple was built. The church and rotunda was built under Constantine in the 4th century and destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009. Al-Hakim's son allowed Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos to reconstruct

6160-414: The site. Control of the church itself is shared among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Roman Catholic , Greek Orthodox , Armenian Apostolic , Coptic , Syriac , and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Directly adjacent to

6248-415: The sixth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty , and his second wife Theophano , an innkeeper's daughter described by contemporaries as ambitious and amoral. Aged eight, Constantine was engaged to a daughter of Emperor Boris II of Bulgaria but in the end, he married a Byzantine aristocrat, Helena, daughter of Alypius . Of their three daughters, Eudokia became a nun after contracting smallpox , Zoe

6336-426: The sky, with five small chapels attached to it." The chapels were east of the court of resurrection (when reconstructed, the location of the tomb was under open sky), where the western wall of the great basilica had been. They commemorated scenes from the passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties of free movement among shrines in

6424-550: The sultan solidified the existing territorial division among the communities and solidified the Status Quo for arrangements to "remain in their present state", requiring consensus to make even minor changes. The dome was restored by Catholics, Greeks, and Turks in 1868, being made of iron ever since. By the time of the British Mandate for Palestine following the end of World War I , the cladding of red limestone applied to

6512-540: The system" and the cause of "a collapse of the military power of the Empire". He ruled for less than three years before his death, on 11 or 12 November 1028. On his deathbed and without a male heir, Constantine named as successor Constantine Dalessenos, Duke of Antioch , a senior aristocrat and member of one of the few powerful patrician families who had been unswervingly loyal to the Macedonian dynasty. Constantine Dalassenos

6600-441: The years 1348 through 1575, as contemporary Franciscan accounts indicate. The Franciscan friars renovated the church in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. The Franciscans rebuilt the Aedicule , extending the structure to create an antechamber. A marble shrine commissioned by Friar Boniface of Ragusa was placed to envelop the remains of Christ's tomb, probably to prevent pilgrims from touching

6688-414: Was de jure Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the younger son of Emperor Romanos II and Empress Theophano . He was nominal co-emperor since 962, successively with his father; stepfather, Nikephoros II Phokas ; uncle, John I Tzimiskes ; and brother, Basil II . Basil's death in 1025 left Constantine as the sole emperor. He occupied the throne for 66 years in total, making him de jure

6776-561: Was a spur to expulsions of Jews and, later on, the Crusades . In wide-ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–1028, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (al-Hakim's son) agreed to allow the rebuilding and redecoration of the church. The rebuilding was finally completed during the tenures of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Jerusalem in 1048. As

6864-579: Was at the time the Master of the Johanniterorden , the Protestant successor to a former branch of the Knights Hospitaller. The German knights built a road through the Muristan from north to south, calling it Prince Frederick William Street, and the property became the centre of the German colony in Jerusalem. Beginning in 1841, German Protestant Christians came to Palestine to support the Christian minority in

6952-616: Was captured by the Seljuk Turks who abused the Christian population, forced pilgrims to pay a heavy tax to visit the Holy Places, and even kidnapped the Patriarch of Jerusalem . In spite of the persecution, the Benedictine hospital continued its ministry. Archbishop John of Amalfi records that during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1082, he visited the hospital. In August 1098, the Turks were ousted by

7040-627: Was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. The church was consecrated on 13 September 335. In 327, Constantine and Helena separately commissioned the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to commemorate the birth of Jesus. The Constantinian sanctuary in Jerusalem was destroyed by a fire in May of 614 , when the Sassanid Empire , under Khosrau II , invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630,

7128-450: Was empress for 22 years, and Theodora reigned for 18 months as the last monarch of the Macedonian line. Romanos died suddenly in 963. Although Constantine was only three years old, he had already been crowned co-emperor in the preceding year, probably on 30 March. The widowed Theophano installed herself as regent for her sons and stocked the imperial government with supporters, but she faced competition for power with Joseph Bringas ,

7216-564: Was located in the area of the Muristan and its neighboring regions. In 130, Hadrian visited the ruins of Jerusalem in Judaea and rebuilt the city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina after himself and Jupiter Capitolinus , the chief deity of Rome. Hadrian placed the city's main forum at the junction of the main two streets, the Cardo Maximus and the Decumanus Maximus , now the location for

7304-489: Was murdered at Theophano's instigation and her lover and co-conspirator John Tzimiskes was acclaimed emperor. Fearing that the empress' many enemies would damage his political prospects, Tzimiskes turned against Theophano and sent her into exile. Constantine and Basil stayed in the capital and retained their status as co-emperors. Tzimiskes died in January 976, when Constantine was sixteen years old. Basil and Constantine became

7392-497: Was murdered. On 18 October 1009, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the complete destruction of the church as part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt. The damage was extensive, with few parts of the early church remaining, and the roof of the rock-cut tomb damaged; the original shrine was destroyed. Some partial repairs followed. Christian Europe reacted with shock: it

7480-625: Was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church. This may have been the cause of the sultan's firman (decree) later developed into the Status Quo . A fire severely damaged the structure again in 1808, causing

7568-515: Was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas I . In 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent to the Church. In 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, a riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and Patriarch John VII

7656-518: Was summoned from his estates in the Armeniac Theme , with the intention that he should certify his position as successor by marrying the emperor's daughter Zoe. Before Dalassenos completed his journey to Constantinople , the situation had changed. The emperor's advisors preferred a different candidate, Romanos Argyros , who showed promise of being a weak ruler whom they could control. Characteristically, Constantine acquiesced to this preference. Romanos

7744-434: Was tall, graceful, and athletic, with an excellent speaking voice and a good grasp of rhetoric. He participated in wrestling competitions— which he brought back into fashion— and in the training and riding of horses. Alongside these active pursuits he was a gourmet and a gourmand, leading in later years to chronic gout which impaired his ability to walk. Basil II had an illustrious reign, pursuing both government reforms and

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