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88-818: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also known as the Church of 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

176-651: A formal 'Edict of Milan'  is no longer really debated among scholars, who generally reject the story as it has come down in church history. The version found in Lactantius is not in the form of an edict. It is a letter from Licinius to the governors of the provinces in the Eastern Empire that he had just conquered by defeating Maximinus later that same year and issued in Nicomedia . The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious and attributed their success as

264-538: 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,

352-410: 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

440-728: A new gate in the Old City walls, in the area of the new development. The gate was called the New Gate . Many of the streets function as typical oriental bazaars or suqs, with the David Street and Christian Quarter Road most prominent among them. Though formally separate from the main bulk of the Christian Quarter, which houses mostly Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic sites, the Armenians consider their adjacent Armenian Quarter to be part of

528-745: A proper staircase. The Crusaders began to refurnish 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 –

616-699: A reprieve from persecution but did not make it the state church of the Roman Empire , which occurred in AD 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica , when Nicene Christianity received normative status. The document is found in Lactantius 's De mortibus persecutorum and in Eusebius of Caesarea 's History of the Church with marked divergences between the two. Whether or not there was

704-454: A riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and Patriarch John VII 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

792-672: A world power to their collective piety ( pietas ) in maintaining good relations with the gods . The Romans were known for the great number of deities that they honored. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula introduced some religious practices such as the cult of Apollo . The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art . According to legends , most of Rome's religious institutions could be traced to its founders ; this archaic religion

880-522: Is a "request that the Christians, who have long been disloyal and still persist in the same mischievous intent, should at last be put down and not be suffered by any absurd novelty to offend against the honour due to the gods." The edict is popularly thought to concern only Christianity and even to make it the official religion of the Empire (which did not occur until the Edict of Thessalonica in 380) . Indeed,

968-545: Is detailed in Jacopo de Varazze's 13th-century Legenda Aurea, which not only recounts the myth surrounding the cross but also commends Helena as an exemplary Christian within the Catholic Church . According to the legend, while en route to Jerusalem, Helena encountered three crosses, one of which was believed to be the cross of Christ, accompanied by the purported nails. The narrative describes three ailing individuals approaching

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1056-611: Is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule . Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of 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

1144-715: Is the seat of the Custody of the Holy Land . The west–east David Street and north–south Christian Quarter Road, or simply Christian Road, are the principal market streets. Several hotels, including the Casa Nova Hotel and the Greek Catholic hotel, were built by the churches as places for religious visitors and pilgrims to stay. The quarter also contains museums , including one about the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. In

1232-429: The 1841 British Royal Engineers map of Jerusalem , or at least Reverend George Williams ' subsequent labelling of it. The city had previously been divided into many more harat ( Arabic : حارَة , romanized :  Hārat : "quarters", "neighborhoods", "districts" or "areas", see wikt:حارة ). The table below shows the evolution of the area which was to become known as the Christian Quarter, from 1495 up until

1320-561: 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

1408-674: The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Sepulchre . Eastern Christians also call it the Church of the Resurrection and 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,

1496-579: The First Crusade , was the threat to Constantinople from the Seljuk invasion of Asia Minor in response to 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

1584-607: 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

1672-531: 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

1760-570: The Roman Catholic , Greek Orthodox , Armenian Apostolic , Coptic , Syriac , and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Directly adjacent to 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

1848-420: 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

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1936-548: The 19th century, European countries sought to expand their influence in Jerusalem and began constructing several structures in the Christian Quarter. The Ottoman authorities attempted to halt European influence and established rules for buying land in the area, but personal interventions from the heads of those countries, including Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria , led to construction of some buildings for those countries' religious and secular authorities. At

2024-507: The 4th century and destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009. Al-Hakim's son allowed Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos to reconstruct 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

2112-532: 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

2200-400: The Anastasis ('Resurrection'). The Status Quo , an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to 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

2288-612: The Armenians , who, unlike the majority of Christians in Jerusalem, Israel and Palestine , are neither Arab nor Palestinian . Gates 1. Jaffa 2. Zion 3. Dung 4. Golden 5. Lions 6. Herod 7. Damascus 8. New ( Double, Single, Tanners ' ) Al-Mawazin 31°46′42.5″N 35°13′45.84″E  /  31.778472°N 35.2294000°E  / 31.778472; 35.2294000 Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan ( Latin : Edictum Mediolanense ; Greek : Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων , Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn )

2376-473: The Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by al-Hakim and 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

2464-559: The Christian Quarter. The three Christian patriarchates of Jerusalem – the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate , the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem , and the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem – as well as the government of Armenia , have all publicly expressed their opposition to any political division of the two quarters. The central reasons for the existence of a separate Armenian Quarter is the distinct language and culture of

2552-408: The Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception." The exhortation to right historic wrongs may also reflect the leaders' desires to avoid unfavourable consequences such as social unrest and further conquests. Koszarycz says that Constantine was superstitious and believed in the existence of the non-Christian gods enough that they did not want to offset

2640-550: The Church ( Historia Ecclesiastica ). His version of the letter of Licinius must derive from a copy posted in the province of Palaestina Prima (probably at its capital, Caesarea ) in the late summer or early autumn of 313, but the origin of his copy of Galerius's edict of 311 is unknown since that does not seem to have been promulgated in Caesarea. In his description of the events in Milan in his Life of Constantine , Eusebius eliminated

2728-496: The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the rebuilding of 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

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2816-508: The Edict of Milan is commonly presented as Constantine's first great act as a Christian emperor, it is disputed whether the Edict of Milan was an act of genuine faith. The document could be seen as Constantine's first step in creating an alliance with the Christian God, whom he considered the strongest deity. At that time, he was concerned about social stability and the protection of the empire from

2904-514: The French area. The Russians located themselves in the nearby Russian Compound . There was a natural desire for easy travel between the Christian Quarter and the new development, but at the time the Old City walls formed a barrier and travellers were forced to take an indirect path through either Jaffa Gate or Nablus Gate . In 1889, the Ottomans accepted the request of the European countries and breached

2992-577: 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

3080-557: The accession of Gallienus (r. 253–268), the Church enjoyed a period of nearly 40 years with no official sanctions against Christians, which Eusebius described as the "little" peace of the Church . In 311, Galerius published an edict from Nicomedia that officially ended the persecutions. Since the fall of the Severan dynasty in AD 235, rivals for the imperial throne had bid for support by either favouring or persecuting Christians . The Edict of Toleration by Galerius had been issued by

3168-509: 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 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

3256-527: The balance of good and evil. It was believed that the sooner that balance was restored by the Romans establishing a state of justice with the Christians, the sooner the state would become stable. The term "Peace of the Church" has sometimes been applied in Great Britain and Ireland to the ending of persecution that followed Catholic emancipation between 1778 and 1926. In Germany , it can refer to life after

3344-478: 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

3432-716: 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, 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

3520-471: 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 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

3608-402: The church. While there, she identified a site in Jerusalem as Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, and the cave where Jesus was laid to rest. As a bold statement for Christianity in this part of the city, she oversaw the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Over the centuries, additional religious institutions and churches were erected nearby, forming a community of Christians. In

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3696-614: The church. By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found 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

3784-602: The commonwealth may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes. The actual letters have never been retrieved. However, they are quoted at length in Lactantius 's On the Deaths of the Persecutors ( De mortibus persecutorum ), which gives the Latin text of both Galerius's edict of toleration as posted at Nicomedia on 30 April 311 and of Licinius's letter of toleration and restitution addressed to

3872-466: The crosses, with the third person experiencing a miraculous healing upon touching the cross of Christ. The designated site of this discovery is said to be where the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher was subsequently erected. Helena is also credited with the establishment of the Church of the Nativity . The cross of Christ and other relics linked to this discovery became subjects of subsequent controversies within

3960-539: 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

4048-660: 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. Christian Quarter The Christian quarter contains about 40 Christian holy places and one of

4136-441: 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

4224-431: 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 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

4312-429: The edict expressly grants religious liberty to Christians, who had been the object of special persecution, but also goes even further and grants liberty to all other religions: When you see that this has been granted to [Christians] by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have

4400-399: The emperor Galerius from Serdica and was posted at Nicomedia on 30 April 311. By its provisions, Christians who had "followed such a caprice and had fallen into such a folly that they would not obey the institutes of antiquity" were granted an indulgence. Wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that

4488-444: The end of the 19th century, there was no further free land for development in the Christian Quarter. In the same period, the Suez Canal had opened and many Christians travelled to the Holy Land. This led to intensified competition between the European powers for influence in Jerusalem. France built hospitals , a monastery , and hostels for visitors outside the Old City adjacent to the Christian Quarter - an area which became known as

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4576-424: 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

4664-415: The fourth century, the church contains both 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

4752-547: The free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity of any religion. Since Licinius composed the edict with the intent of publishing it in the east upon his hoped-for victory over Maximinus, it expresses the religious policy accepted by Licinius, a pagan, rather than that of Constantine, who was already a Christian. Constantine's own policy went beyond merely tolerating Christianity. He tolerated paganism and other religions but actively promoted Christianity. Although

4840-566: The governor of Bithynia and posted at Nicomedia on 13 June 313. The latter states: When we, Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus, met so happily at Milan, and considered together all that concerned the interest and security of the State, we decided ... to grant to Christians and to everybody the free power to follow the religion of their choice, in order that all that is divine in the heavens may be favorable and propitious towards all who are placed under our authority. Eusebius of Caesarea translated both documents into Greek in his History of

4928-418: 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

5016-413: 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

5104-556: The liturgy in its fullness and to attempt seriously and earnestly to mould the life of the empire according to Christian ideals and standards. The joy of the Christians at this change in their public status is expressed by Eusebius in his "Church History" (X, ii). This period of Church history is also known as the "Peace of the Church" . Eusebius says that it stated that "it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever." The edict further demanded that individual Romans right any wrongs towards Christians: "...the same shall be restored to

5192-404: 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

5368-422: The mines, as Constantine and Licinius had both done in the West. After Galerius's death, Maximinus was no longer constrained and enthusiastically took up renewed persecutions in the eastern territories under his control, encouraging petitions against Christians. One of those petitions, addressed not only to Maximinus but also to Constantine and Licinius, is preserved in a stone inscription at Arycanda in Lycia, and

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5456-402: The modern system: During the 4th century, Emperor Constantine 's mother, Helena, journeyed to the Holy Land, aiming to engage in acts of charity and establish churches, particularly in locations associated with significant events in the life of Jesus Christ. During this period, a prominent narrative emerged about Helena's discovery of the cross. This legend, widely recognized in Late Antiquity,

5544-471: The most important communities of Christianity in Israel and holy places for Christians in the world . First among them is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , Christianity's holiest place. Most of the residents of the Christian quarter remain Christians however their numbers have dwindled. The Christian Quarter was built around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the heart of the quarter, and Christian churches and institutions are spread across much of

5632-417: 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 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

5720-409: The ninth century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage 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,

5808-449: 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

5896-411: 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

5984-412: 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 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

6072-452: The provincial magistrates to execute the order at once with all energy so that public order may be restored and the continuance of divine favour may "preserve and prosper our successes together with the good of the state." Constantine ordered for the restitution to be at the expense of the state. For Christians, the immunities and guaranties contained in the act had most important results. For the first time, it became possible to observe publicly

6160-485: The quarter. Besides the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there are the patriarchal seats of many Christian denominations, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem , which owns large tracts of the quarter, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem , the Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem , the Coptic Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Ethiopian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, while the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour (often called by its Italian name, San Salvatore)

6248-491: 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 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,

6336-479: 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 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

6424-453: The rest of his reign. Galerius's earlier edict did nothing to restore the confiscated property of Christians. That was left to the Edict of Milan. Instructions were given for Christians' meeting places and other properties to be returned and compensation to be paid by the state to the current owners: the same shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception. It directed

6512-515: The role of Licinius, whom he portrayed as the evil foil to his hero Constantine. The Edict of Milan was in effect directed against Maximinus Daza , the Caesar in the East who styled himself as Augustus. Having received Emperor Galerius's instruction to repeal the persecution in 311, Maximinus had instructed his subordinates to desist, but he had not released Christians from prisons or virtual death sentences in

6600-572: 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,

6688-649: 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 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

6776-403: The southwestern part of the quarter there is a pool called Hezekiah's Pool or Patriarch's Pool that was traditionally used to store water for the area. The area originated as "Haret en-Nasara" (Nasara is cognate with "Nazarenes") in the middle of the area was later to become the "Christian Quarter". The convention of the boundaries of the Christian Quarter have originated in its current form in

6864-547: 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

6952-484: The system. Their scruples prevented them swearing loyalty oaths directed at the emperor's divinity . More particularly, the refusal of Christians to pay the Jewish tax was perceived as a threat not just to the state cult but to the state itself. That led to various forms of persecution . Emperor Decius (r. 249–251) issued edicts that imposed hard restrictions on Christians, a policy continued by his successor Valerian. With

7040-405: 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 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

7128-450: The title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ('Protector [or Defender] of 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

7216-474: The wrath of the Christian God: in this view, the edict could be a pragmatic political decision rather than a religious shift. However, the majority of historians believe that Constantine's adoption of Christianity was genuine, and that the Edict of Milan was merely the first official act of Constantine as a dedicated Christian. This view is supported by Constantine's ongoing favors on behalf of Christianity during

7304-438: 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

7392-410: 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 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

7480-620: 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

7568-539: Was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abbasids) by the knights of 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

7656-649: Was the February, AD 313 agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Emperor Licinius , who controlled the Balkans , met in Mediolanum (modern-day Milan ) and, among other things, agreed to change policies towards Christians following the edict of toleration issued by Emperor Galerius two years earlier in Serdica . The Edict of Milan gave Christianity legal status and

7744-511: Was the foundation of the mos maiorum , "the way of the ancestors" or simply "tradition", viewed as central to Roman identity. Through interpretatio graeca and interpretatio romana , the religions of other peoples incorporated into the Roman Empire co-existed within the Roman theological hierarchy. The Judeo-Christian insistence on their god being the only God and in believing all other gods were false gods could not be fitted into

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